UK consumers believe that fraud will become a bigger issue for banks and insurers in the next five years, compared to other European countries.

A new report from European consumer and credit information provider CRIF, found four in five Brits (84%) expect the scale of fraud to become an even bigger issue between now and 2030, with the level of expectation higher than in Germany (80%), France (77%), Italy (76%), and Poland (76%).

Brits are also the most likely to expect a major cybersecurity incident in the next five years, with a similar proportion (81%) predicting that a significant data breach at a major bank will compromise personal information in the coming years. This compares to an average of 74% across the rest of Europe.

As well as leading Europe in terms of fraud concerns, the research also revealed sharp divides between age groups around attitudes and behaviours towards financial fraud. Nine in ten Baby Boomers (92%) and Gen X (88%) now believe financial fraud will become a bigger issue, compared with a lower – but still significant – three in four Gen Zs (75%) and Millennials (76%).

However, when asked about what they are most worried about negatively impacting their finances in the next five years, just a quarter of Gen Zs (24%) and millennials (26%) ranked fraud as one of their top concerns, compared to nearly half (49%) of Baby Boomers.

Despite having overall lower levels of worry around the threat fraud can pose to their finances, UK Gen Zs are currently at significantly greater risk from scams, with young adults more likely than older generations to fall victim to financial fraud and lose larger sums of money.

Sara Costantini, regional director for the UK & Ireland at CRIF, said: “Fraud may not be a new phenomenon, but the digital age has undoubtedly created more sophisticated ways for criminals to exploit consumers and businesses.

“UK consumers clearly feel the most pessimistic about the situation, with expectations for fraud to get worse by 2030 and a widespread belief that major cyber breaches are inevitable. These concerns send a clear signal that fraud prevention and cyber resilience must remain top priorities for the financial services sector.

“At the same time, there are striking generational differences. Older consumers are the most concerned, yet it’s younger generations who are more likely to fall victim – and lose more when they do. This underlines the need for greater collaboration across the sector to improve security, raise consumer confidence and ensure we reduce the impact of fraud in the years ahead.”

Despite efforts to tackle it, the scale of financial fraud continues to generate major losses for the sector and its customers CRIF added. Last year, fraud cost consumers and financial providers over £1.1 billion, according to UK Finance.

“As financial services continue to digitise, the pressure on banks, insurers and other providers to safeguard consumers will intensify,” the report continued. “Nearly three-quarters of Brits (75%) now believe government and regulators will need to step in more forcefully to control the use of data and tackle fraud as a result.”