Ofcom says half of UK adults have seen fraudulent online ads

Ofcom said more than half of UK adults have encountered potentially fraudulent online ads, a sign that scam promotions have become routine inside the paid-for systems that dominate big platforms. Its latest research found that 51% of adults had seen these adverts, 36% said they see them frequently, and 30% of UK adults have interacted with them in some way. Ofcom estimates victims lose more than £200 million a year on average, while earlier research found that 34% of victims reported an immediate negative impact on their mental health, rising to 63% among those who lost money.

The regulator published its Fraudulent Advertising Codes of Practice consultation on 10 July 2026 and set 2 October 2026 as the closing date. The draft rules would apply to Category 1 services and Category 2A search services under the Online Safety Act 2023, but only for paid-for advertising content. User-generated content and non-sponsored search results are outside the scope, leaving the commercial ad inventory, not every part of the web, in Ofcom’s sights.

Ofcom said those services are among the most widely used in the UK, which makes the accountability question more than technical. The act requires certain online services to have greater transparency and accountability, give users more choice and control, and protect users from fraudulent advertising. In practice, that means asking whether platforms can be pushed to treat scam ads as a cost of doing business rather than a profitable side effect of high-volume ad sales.

The consultation followed work that began on 25 March 2024, when Ofcom launched a call for evidence on the third phase of online safety regulation. Parliament was told in 2025 that Ofcom planned to publish the register of categorised services in summer 2025, consult on draft fraud codes by early 2026, and bring the duties into force about a year later. Consumer group Which? has repeatedly urged faster action, warning that delays leave consumers unprotected and that the current timetable could leave people vulnerable until 2027 at the earliest. TechUK said the draft Fraudulent Advertising Codes of Practice are long-awaited and set out how Category 1 and Category 2A services should tackle paid-for scam ads.