Fraud losses from hacked social media and email accounts rise over 400%
Losses from hacked social media and email accounts rose above £6m, up more than 400%, as a victim described fake ticket scams and advice focused on passkeys and two-factor authentication.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
Losses from hacked social media and email accounts have risen sharply, according to a fraud reporting service. Money stolen in the last financial year reached £6.3 million, up from £1.2 million in 2024 to 2025. That is an increase of more than 400% over the past year.
People are being urged to protect their online accounts with passkeys and biometrics. Two-factor authentication is described as a must-have, and Facebook and Instagram recommend it. The aim is to make it harder for criminals to break into accounts.
The scale of the problem was illustrated by Jonny Stanton, whose Instagram account was hacked. He said he went to the theatre on a Saturday night and came out a few hours later to WhatsApp messages and emails from friends, family and friends of friends. About half asked whether he had Oasis tickets, while the other half said it looked as though he had been scammed.
Mr Stanton could not get into his Instagram account. He watched the scam unfold through his wife's account and friends' accounts. He said the experience was distressing. His hacked account was used in full-blown direct message conversations to trick people into buying fake Oasis tickets. Friends and family members lost around £400 to £500 each, and he hoped they got the money back.
Mr Stanton described the case as fraud and identity theft. Recovering his account was unnecessarily stressful, he said. He criticised Meta, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, for providing no support, no phone call and no phone number. He contrasted that with banks, where a customer can phone about a fraudulent transaction. He said there was no accountability with Meta. He added that he got help only after raising the issue with colleagues at Meta whom he found by searching LinkedIn.
Mr Stanton also raised wider concerns about fraud on social media. He said 45% of crimes in the UK are fraud related. He said two-thirds of fraud crimes affecting Lloyds Bank account members and customers come from Meta, and that social media is where they start.
The interview set out warning signs for users. Pressure is a red flag, especially around tickets for acts such as Oasis, Taylor Swift and Harry Styles. Criminals may also try to get people to reveal bank account details.
Protection advice
- Use passkeys and biometrics.
- Turn on two-factor authentication.
- Be wary of pressure and requests for bank details.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| Individual victims of the scam lost around £400 to £500 each. | |
| Losses from criminals hacking social media and email accounts rose by over 400% year on year, reaching £6.3 million from £1.2 million. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
ITV1 led with the reported rise in fraud losses and built the segment around a victim case study. It focused on how a hacked Instagram account was used to sell fake Oasis tickets, the difficulty of recovering an account from Meta, and the lack of support for victims. It also gave practical security advice, including passkeys, biometrics and two-factor authentication.
- “Money stolen by criminals hacking social media accounts and emails has risen by over 400% over the past year, according to the report fraud service.”
- “people lost four or five hundred pounds each”
- “there's no accountability with Meta.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.