Police Urge Passkey Use After Surge in Cybercrime Profits
UK Report Fraud urges passkey adoption after email and social media account takeover losses surged to £6.3m, up from £1.2m.
The UK's Report Fraud service said cybercrime linked to email and social media hacking netted scammers £6.3m ($8.3m) in 2025/6, up from £1.2m the prior year, with account takeover reports up 34%. It launched an awareness campaign urging passkeys, backed by the NCSC. Common monetization tactics include impersonating family and friends from hacked accounts and ticketing scams, such as fake Oasis concert ticket sales averaging £346 per victim.
- £6.3m stolen via email/social media account takeover in 2025/6, up from £1.2m
- Account takeover reports rose 34% year over year
- Scammers use hacked accounts to impersonate family and friends or sell fake tickets
- NCSC endorses passkeys as phishing-resistant authentication
- Only 16% of surveyed UK users know how to store passwords safely
From the original article
2 min read at infosecurity-magazine.com
Report Fraud says cybercrime revenue stemming from account takeover increased 417% annually
By Phil Muncaster · infosecurity-magazine.com
A short excerpt; the article and its images belong to the publisher. Summary, key facts and assessment above are AI-written from the article and can be wrong.