More than £3.8 million was reported as stolen from Santander UK customers in romance scams in the past six months, marking a 27% jump compared with the previous half-year period. Customers aged 18 to 93 were affected, the bank said.

The average loss to romance fraudsters was £4,500. Santander customers lost £6,826,748 to romance scams in the 12 months running from August 2023 to August 2024.

Some £3,813,410 was lost between March and August this year. Half (50%) of people have received…