UK Sees Significant Increase in Spam, Phishing & Hacking

Results from MEF’s 11th annual consumer survey show a significant jump in digital dangers across the UK in the past year (2024 vs 2025). Reports of fraudulent text messages saw the largest spike, rising 13 percentage points to 43% of all respondents, with spam messages up 12 points and now experienced by 46% of users. Scam emails also surged 12 points to 44%, with unsolicited (or spam) calls up 10 points to 46%. With incidents of account hacking also on the rise (up 4 points to 21%) it is crucial to be extra cautious online!