NatWest has warned that Liverpool fans are being scammed more than any other football club supporters and for the most amount of money.

According to the bank, last year Liverpool fans lost nearly £18,000 across 76 scams.

Arsenal found itself in second place in NatWest's league of ticket scams, with the club losing £12,000 across 70 scams.

NatWest revealed that other teams in its league lost a lot less over the 12-month period, with Chelsea in third place after losing just under £3,000 across 20 cases.

Across 2023, on average ticket scams costed fans £180, although one supporter lost as much as £900.

“As the new season kicks off we urge customers to be extra vigilant and stay safe from criminals who are exploiting fans devotion to their club,” said Stuart Skinner, head of fraud prevention, NatWest. “We estimate the actual value of ticket scams is potentially much higher but not all of the scams are reported.”

He called on social media experts to deal with fraudsters who are exploiting football fans.

Earlier this month, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) revealed that reimbursement for victims of authorised push payment (APP) scams still largely depends on which bank they use.

The regulator found that while overall reimbursement rates have improved, there remain significant disparities between financial institutions.

In 2023, victims reported 252,626 cases of APP scams totalling nearly £341 million. Under the existing voluntary reimbursement framework, 67 per cent of money lost to APP scams was returned to victims, up from 61 per cent in 2022.

However, the PSR noted a highly inconsistent approach among firms. Some banks, such as Nationwide and TSB, fully reimbursed over 95 per cent of APP scam cases reported to them. In contrast, AIB fully reimbursed just three per cent of cases, while Danske Bank and Monzo fully reimbursed seven per cent and nine per cent respectively.

In June, NatWest announced that Martin Lewis had topped its ‘Celebrity Scam Super League’.

The League is based on the highest value cases in which a celebrity’s name or image has been used by criminals to trick a consumer into making a fake investment.

Martin Lewis was top of the list, with one consumer losing more than £150,000 in an scam that used the money expert’s details to trick them into a fake investment.

This was more than double the second highest value case, Elon Musk, in which a consumer lost £62,900.

Jennifer Aniston came in third place, with one consumer losing over £58,000 to a scam purporting to be a legitimate investment opportunity with the famous actress, followed by Jimmy page at £50,994; Dr Bradly Schaeffer at £48,500; and Jeremey Clarkson at £47,500.

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