Guide section
CIFAS markers in numbers
The scale of CIFAS marker filing is substantial and growing. Understanding the numbers helps put your situation in context, you are not alone, and disputed markers are an increasing concern.
Guide section
Key statistics
- 444,000 fraud markers were recorded on the NFD in 2025
- A new marker is recorded approximately every 2 minutes
- 775+ organisations are CIFAS members across 17 sectors
- Identity Fraud is the highest-volume category (118,726 cases)
- Misuse of Facility is the most commonly disputed type (51,183 cases)
- CIFAS claims £2.4 billion in prevented fraud losses annually
Guide section
What the FOS data shows
Our analysis of 1,313 unique published Financial Ombudsman decisions about CIFAS markers shows that complaint volume has grown sharply, from 5 published decisions in 2013 to 376 in 2025. This reflects both increasing marker filing and increasing awareness that markers can be challenged.
The overall upheld rate is 28%, meaning nearly three in ten complaints succeed at the ombudsman level. However, this figure masks significant variation by institution and marker type. Some institutions have much higher upheld rates than others.
The real story
The 71.3% not-upheld rate in the deduped dataset is largely explained by weak complaint preparation, no legal framework, no data protection arguments, and no evidence structure. Properly prepared complaints have a significantly higher success rate.