A fraudster who targeted a pension company and banks has been jailed for three years for making £178,000-worth of fake applications to get pension facilities and loans.

Over £612m was lost to investment fraud in 2023, according to new data from crime reporting service Action Fraud.

Fraudster Jonathan Allard has been given a prison sentence of over seven years for his role in a complex investment scam.

The Serious Fraud Office is to return over £1m to more than 200 victims of one of the UK’s biggest ever boiler room frauds.