Recent high-profile data breaches have reminded us of the devastating impact fraud can have on victims, which is why it is imperative that we all work together to prevent it.

What has the finance industry been doing to tackle fraud?

The financial services industry invests millions every year in advanced security systems to tackle the ever-changing face of fraud. Banks and card companies succeeded in preventing £2 out of every £3 of attempted unauthorised fraud in 2017, stopping over £1.4 billion of unauthorised financial fraud in all. UK Finance, together with our members, has been at the forefront of developing initiatives to target fraud, scams and economic crime.

However, authorised push payment (APP) scams - where customers unwittingly transfer money to a fraudster, thinking it is a genuine transaction - can be sophisticated and much harder to spot. We are working closely with the banking industry and the regulator to establish best practice standards and a reimbursement model to help consumers who fall victim to APP scams.

Close cooperation between the industry and law enforcement has been central to fighting economic crime. The innovative Banking Protocol scheme ? which allows bank branch staff to immediately alert police and Trading Standards if they suspect fraudulent activity - has been instrumental in helping us stay one step ahead of the fraudsters. Launched in 2017, it has been a tremendous success, preventing almost £25 million of fraud in its first year and is now used by all 45 police forces in the UK.

The success of the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU), a specialist police unit sponsored by the finance industry and supported by UK Finance, has been a major tool in the fight against fraud, targeting organised criminal gangs. The DCPCU tackles card-not-present (CNP) fraud, insider fraud and the social engineering, including APP scams. The DCPCU prevented £25 million of fraud and made 84 arrests and interviews under caution in the first half of 2018, which led to 26 fraudsters being convicted. This kind of collaboration across the industry, government and law enforcement agencies means we can ensure fraudsters are caught and punished.

There's also our Financial Fraud Bureau, which collates intelligence from the payments industry, and the Fraud Intelligence Sharing System which is used by industry to identify patterns in fraud. Intelligence is also shared with law enforcement including the National Crime Agency and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau.

Consumers are the first line of defence

Fraud comes in various guises, yet the vast majority involves criminals targeting customers to get hold of enough of their personal or financial details, so they can commit fraud, or dupe them into to making payments. It's no longer just about stealing cards and PINs - there's far more to it than that. Fraudsters are nothing if not inventive. Some of the methods they use include:

• Setting up fake websites for customers to unwittingly give access to their account details
• Phishing emails and texts pretending to be from a customer's bank
• Buying or taking over legitimate accounts to be used for money laundering
• Calling vulnerable customers pretending to be from the police and asking them to move their money to a 'safe? account.

It is really important that customers can recognise when they are being duped. UK Finance's Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign, run in conjunction with the Home Office, is designed to help consumers protect themselves from typical scams by identifying when it is not safe to hand over personal information or transfer money.

There is always more to do, and UK Finance and its members are committed to continuing to prevent, detect and prosecute fraudsters - but it's not a battle that industry can fight alone. Please join us!