2025 in Review: Major Fraud Events and What We Can Learn From Them

The fraud landscape in 2025 has consisted of investigations into investment, cryptocurrency, and other cyber frauds, as well as key enforcement changes in both the U.S. and UK. As we look back on 2025, this article will cover some of the key fraud cases of the year and will provide an analysis on some significant themes. Our upcoming article will then look forward to 2026, posing questions to our future selves about what the next year in fraud will hold.

Major Fraud Cases in 2025

Zhimin Qian (aka Yadi Zhang) Cryptocurrency Multi-Billion-Dollar Investment Fraud

Our 2024 fraud look-back article documented Jian Wen’s conviction for assisting her then-boss, Yadi Zhang (known as, “the goddess of wealth”), in laundering money obtained from an extensive investment fraud scheme.^{^[1]}

In November 2025, Zhimin Qian was sentenced to more than 11 years for the money laundering of over 61,000 Bitcoin, now valued at more than GBP £5 billion.^{^[2]} The purchase of Bitcoin was Qian’s method of storing funds obtained from a large-scale investment fraud, affecting around 128,000 victims in China, with losses totalling approximately GBP £600 million.^{^[3]}

Prince Group Transnational Cyberfraud Network

In October 2025, U.S. authorities sanctioned the Prince Group, led by Cambodian businessman Chen Zhi, for orchestrating extensive “pig butchering” scams: long-term fraud projects where victims are groomed before being tricked into investing money in fake cryptocurrency or other financial schemes.^{^[4]}

The network, including at least 146 entities, allegedly used forced labour to conduct these cyber-frauds, contributing to its designation in the U.S. as a Transnational Criminal Organisation.^{^[5]} USD $15 billion in Bitcoin has been seized and millions of dollars of assets have been frozen, including 19 properties in London — one of which is worth nearly GBP £100 million. Chen Zhi has been sanctioned and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.^{^[6]}

Ethical Forestry Ltd Investment Fraud

Following the collapse of Ethical Forestry Ltd,^{^[7]} the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigated its suspected GBP £70 million fraudulent investment scheme. The company pitched a sustainable alternative to traditional pension schemes, convincing victims to invest into the planting of trees in Costa Rica. While some of the funds were used to plant trees, there was allegedly no intention to conduct the commercial harvest that had promised a return on investment. These allegations were confirmed in January 2026 as three directors were convicted of fraudulent trading.^{^[8]}

Nationwide Building Society financial crime controls failings

In December 2025, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) fined Nationwide Building Society £44 million for repeated failings in financial crime controls, including missing red flags on a customer who received £27.3 million in fraudulent COVID-19 furlough payments (see our previous article on other instances of fraud in the UK’s COVID-related schemes). Although Nationwide was aware of these deficiencies and acting to make improvements, the weaknesses were not considered adequately addressed nor in a timely manner.^{^[9]}

Common Themes and Insights

Recalibrated U.S. FCPA Enforcement Priorities

In February 2025, the U.S. “paused” Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigations and enforcement for the first time in the act’s history. The pause was lifted in June 2025, following the issuance of new FCPA guidelines.^{^[10]} The new guidelines reflect the Trump Administration’s “America First” agenda,^[11] focussing on threats to U.S. national security and economic competitiveness; prosecuting Transnational Criminal Organisations, cartels and global terrorists; and moving enforcement away from U.S. businesses involved in routine business practices and towards individuals engaged in serious misconduct.^{^[12]}

These priorities are visible in recent cases, such as the Prince Group being designated a Transnational Criminal Organisation and its leader facing prosecution.

UK Regulatory Toughening on Fraud Prevention and Prosecution

FTPF

Within the Economic Crimes and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA), the UK introduced a new offence of Failure to Prevent Fraud (FTPF), meaning that an organisation can be made liable for fraud committed by an associated person for the organisation’s benefit, where the organisation did not have reasonable fraud prevention procedures in place.^[13] This offence came into force on Sept. 1 2025. So much of 2025 was characterised by companies conducting risk assessments and other preparations to be able to demonstrate having “reasonable fraud prevention procedures.” For further information, see our previous articles on FTPF and reasonable procedures and a deep dive on the importance of organisational culture.

Greater Emphasis on Enforcement and Recovery of Funds

The UK government has reported that, in the 12 months to April 2025, over GBP £480 million was recovered from fraud or potential fraud. This is attributed largely to new technology and artificial intelligence (AI) aiding the fight against fraud, and over a third of the money recovered relating to fraud committed during the pandemic.^[14] One enforcement drive was Operation Henhouse (February 2025), a UK-wide campaign against fraud, which resulted in 433 arrests and GBP £7.5 million in seized assets.^[15]

Additionally, 2025 was a record year for UK enforcement against banks, with over GBP £119 million issued in fines largely for failures to maintain adequate financial crime controls. This includes the GBP £44 million fine imposed on Nationwide referenced above, as well as GBP £42 million and GBP £21 million fines imposed on Barclays and Monzo, respectively.^[16]

Greater Efficiency in SFO and FCA Enforcement Actions

Over 2025, the FCA and SFO have focussed on improving the efficiency, effectiveness, and outcomes obtained through their investigations, even if meaning pursing a smaller number of cases. While not exclusive to fraud, data published by the FCA shows that open enforcement actions fell by 31% in the year to 31 March 2025, with five recent enforcement actions achieving a public outcome in fewer than 16 months.^[17] In addition, Attorney General Richard Hermer KC stated that SFO Director Nick Ephgrave had “modernised the organisation’s approach to tackling serious fraud, bribery and corruption, strengthened its capabilities and secured important convictions.”^{^[18]}

Cyber-Enabled Fraud

From January to June 2025, GBP £629.3 million was lost to fraud in the UK, two-thirds of which involved the fraud beginning online.^[19]

Digital Payment Fraud

Payment fraud was the most common type of fraud in 2025 in the UK.^[20] While 2025 figures are still being finalised, some organisations are predicting that the global cost of digital payment fraud will exceed USD $50 billion in 2025.^[21] A key factor contributing to the high rates of such fraud is the increase in digital and instant payments, which leaves little room for reversal.^[22]

AI-Enabled Identity Fraud

While there was no single AI fraud case reported in 2025 with comparable value as those mentioned above, the AI Incident Database reported 132 cases of AI fraud in 2025, 81% of which being frauds perpetrated using AI-generated deepfakes.^{^[23]} This included a woman who was defrauded out of USD $15,000 due to an AI-powered phone call that impersonated her daughter,^{^[24]} and a couple who lost USD $45,000 to a fraudulent giveaway scheme, which ran using a deepfake impersonation of Elon Musk.^{^25]}

Looking Forward to 2026

We do not anticipate being short of fraud-related conversation in 2026, with Nick Ephgrave’s resignation from the SFO, what does this mean for the agency?^[26] There will also be the first full year of FTPF enforcement, AI improvements generating opportunities for fraudsters, and fraud prevention agencies alike, as well as the uncertain impact of the recent white paper on UK policy reforms.^[27] These are just a few of the topics we will be covering as we dust off our crystal ball in our upcoming article, where we consider the fraud and investigations landscape in 2026.

How Ankura Can Help

Professionals at Ankura have experience navigating a wide range of complex fraud investigations and compliance issues such as those mentioned above. Our offerings include:

Fraud, bribery, and corruption investigations and forensic accounting, utilising AI.
Business intelligence and asset tracing, with specialists in tracing cryptocurrency.
Compliance professionals, experienced in fraud risk assessments and experts in FTPF.
AI and data analytics experts.

For more information about the Ankura investigations and forensic accounting practice and how we can help, please visit our website.

^{© Copyright 2026. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily the views of Ankura Consulting Group, LLC., its management, its subsidiaries, its affiliates, or its other professionals. Ankura is not a law firm and cannot provide legal advice.}

Sources

[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy0415kk3rzo

[2] https://news.sky.com/story/yadi-zhang-woman-pleads-guilty-to-money-laundering-over-5bn-bitcoin-seizure-13440930

[3] https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/two-people-imprisoned-their-key-roles-largescale-money-laundering-case

[4] https://www.forbes.com/sites/martinacastellanos/2025/10/14/us-seizes-15-billion-in-bitcoin-sanctions-cambodias-prince-group-in-global-crypto-scam-crackdown/

[5] https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0278

[6] https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/chairman-prince-group-indicted-operating-cambodian-forced-labor-scam-compounds-engaged

[7] https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/25491207.ex-ethical-forestry-ltd-directors-accused-defrauding-millions/

[8] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/sfo-secures-three-convictions-for-70-million-investment-fraud

[9] https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/fca-fines-nationwide-44m-failings-financial-crime-controls

[10] https://www.forbes.com/sites/insider/2025/11/05/after-the-pause-new-era-of-fcpa-enforcement/

[11] https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2025/01/president-trumps-america-first-priorities/