Cifas

Cifas (originally an acronym for Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance System) is the UK's leading not-for-profit fraud prevention service, founded in 1988 by the Consumer Credit Trade Association. It operates the world's first cross-sector fraud sharing scheme, maintaining the UK's largest fraud databases and serving 775+ member organizations spanning 17 sectors including banking, insurance, telecommunications, retail, government, and the voluntary sector.

The organization's core mission is to reduce and prevent fraud and financial crime by enabling member organizations to share and access fraud intelligence. In 2025, Cifas members reported over GBP 2.4 billion in prevented fraud losses, with 444,000 fraud cases recorded to the National Fraud Database -- a 6% year-over-year increase largely attributed to AI-fueled identity fraud.

Cifas provides a suite of data products, intelligence services, training programs, and consumer protection tools. Its Fraud and Cyber Academy offers certified qualifications in fraud investigation, prevention, and insider threat detection. The organization works closely with UK law enforcement through its OFIG collaborative meetings and publishes an annual Fraudscape report on fraud trends.