The honest starting point is that no UK body publishes a single figure for "probate and inheritance fraud". The nearest official measures are national fraud statistics, court data on contested estates, and safeguarding figures on the misuse of powers of attorney.
Inheritance fraud, where scammers falsely tell someone they are due money from an estate, is recorded by the Office for National Statistics inside the broader "advance fee fraud" category rather than as a standalone line (ONS, Nature of fraud and computer misuse, year ending March 2025). Alongside that sit court statistics on estates where probate is stopped or disputed, and Office of the Public Guardian data on concerns about attorneys and deputies. This page pulls those named sources together, shows how they move over time, and explains what they can and cannot tell you. Every figure is dated to its reference period and linked to its source. This is general information, not advice.
Key figures at a glance
The table below collects the headline statistics relevant to probate and inheritance fraud in England and Wales, each with its source and reference period. These measures come from different systems and are not directly comparable. Fraud survey totals cover all fraud, court figures cover contested or delayed estates, and safeguarding figures cover concerns rather than proven wrongdoing.
| Measure | Figure | Reference period & source |
|---|---|---|
| Estimated fraud incidents (all fraud, CSEW) | 4.4 million | Year ending Dec 2025 (ONS, Crime in England and Wales, YE Dec 2025) |
| Fraud incidents involving a loss | Around 3.2 million | Year ending Dec 2025 (ONS, Crime in England and Wales, YE Dec 2025) |
| Change in advance fee fraud (includes inheritance fraud) since 2017 | More than five-fold increase | YE March 2017 to YE Dec 2025 (ONS, Crime in England and Wales, YE Dec 2025) |
| Probate grant applications | 242,821 | 2025 (HMCTS, Family Court Statistics Quarterly, Oct-Dec 2025) |
| Average time for "stopped" probate cases (disputes, will issues, missing information) | 15 weeks, vs 2 weeks if not stopped | Oct-Dec 2025 (HMCTS, Family Court Statistics Quarterly, Oct-Dec 2025) |
| Concerns about attorneys, deputies and guardians raised with OPG | 11,266 | 2024 to 2025 (OPG Annual Report 2024 to 2025, gov.uk) |
| UK deaths resulting in an inheritance tax charge | 4.62% | 2022 to 2023 (HMRC, Inheritance Tax liabilities statistics) |
Figures cover England and Wales except the inheritance tax measure, which is UK-wide. Sources reflect the reference periods stated and later figures may differ. As at July 2026, subject to change.
What counts as probate and inheritance fraud?
Probate and inheritance fraud is a loose label rather than a single legal offence. It generally covers inheritance scams, where a fraudster falsely claims you are owed money from an estate, along with forged or altered wills, false probate applications, and the misuse of an estate or a vulnerable person's assets. Because these acts fall under different laws and datasets, no one number captures them all.
The ONS records inheritance scams within "advance fee fraud", defined as fraud where a victim pays money to someone claiming authority, in return for a promised gift, inheritance or reward (ONS, Nature of fraud and computer misuse, year ending March 2025). Forged wills and disputed estates surface instead in court and probate statistics, and financial abuse by an attorney shows up in Office of the Public Guardian data. Reading these together gives a fuller, if imperfect, picture. Our guide to What Is Probate? explains the process these figures describe.
Fraud incidents and the inheritance angle
Fraud is now the most common crime measured by the Crime Survey for England and Wales, with an estimated 4.4 million incidents in the year ending December 2025, of which around 3.2 million involved a loss (ONS, Crime in England and Wales, year ending December 2025). That total was not statistically different from the 4.1 million estimated a year earlier.
Inheritance scams are a small part of that total, but the category that contains them has grown sharply. The ONS reports a more than five-fold increase in advance fee fraud when comparing the year ending March 2017 with the year ending December 2025 (ONS, Crime in England and Wales, year ending December 2025). Advance fee fraud is grouped with consumer, retail and other fraud in the detailed release, and that combined group ran at around 1.7 million incidents in the year ending March 2025, up 88% from 910,000 in the year ending March 2017 (ONS, Nature of fraud and computer misuse, year ending March 2025).
| Fraud measure (CSEW) | Figure | Reference period |
|---|---|---|
| All fraud incidents | 4.4 million | YE Dec 2025 |
| All fraud incidents | 4.1 million | YE Dec 2024 |
| Fraud incidents involving a loss | Around 3.2 million | YE Dec 2025 |
| Consumer, retail & other fraud (includes advance fee fraud) | Around 1.7 million | YE March 2025 |
| Same group, earlier baseline | 910,000 | YE March 2017 |
All-fraud and advance-fee figures: ONS, Crime in England and Wales, YE Dec 2025. Group breakdown: ONS, Nature of fraud and computer misuse, YE March 2025. England and Wales. As at July 2026, subject to change.
Contested and stopped probate cases
Most estates pass through probate without incident, but a minority are stopped because of disputes, problems with a will, or missing information, which is where forgery and challenge tend to surface. Of the 242,821 probate grant applications made in 2025, cases that were stopped in the final quarter took 15 weeks on average to reach a grant, against 2 weeks for those that were not (HMCTS, Family Court Statistics Quarterly, October to December 2025, as at July 2026, subject to change).
The court statistics do not label cases as "fraud", so a stopped case is not proof of wrongdoing. It may simply mean a query about a will or an incomplete form. Even so, the gap between stopped and unstopped cases is a useful signal of how much friction disputes and irregular documents add to administering an estate. Where a will's validity is genuinely in doubt, a caveat can be entered to pause a grant, and contested matters can move to the courts. For the wider process, see our What Is Probate? guide.
Financial abuse and attorney misuse
A related risk is the misuse of a lasting power of attorney, where someone trusted to manage another person's money instead takes it. The Office of the Public Guardian received 11,266 concerns about attorneys, deputies and guardians in 2024 to 2025, of which 3,823 (34%) were accepted as investigations (OPG Annual Report 2024 to 2025, gov.uk, as at July 2026, subject to change).
These concerns are wider than fraud. They include honest mistakes and poor record-keeping as well as suspected theft, so they overstate deliberate abuse if read as a fraud count. They matter to inheritance because money taken during someone's lifetime reduces what is left in their estate, and disputes can spill into probate after death. We look at this in detail in our data piece on power of attorney fraud. Anyone worried about a specific arrangement can raise it with the OPG, which can refer possible criminal matters to the police (gov.uk, report a concern about an attorney, deputy or guardian).
The inheritance tax backdrop
Deliberately understating an estate's value to reduce inheritance tax is a form of inheritance-related fraud, so it helps to see how many estates the tax touches. In the tax year 2022 to 2023, 4.62% of UK deaths resulted in an inheritance tax charge, involving 31,500 taxpaying estates, up 3,700 (13%) on the year before (HMRC, Inheritance Tax liabilities statistics, tax year 2022 to 2023, as at July 2026, subject to change).
Most estates fall below the tax-free thresholds and pay nothing. The standard inheritance tax rate is 40%, charged only on the part of an estate above the available nil-rate band of £325,000, and married couples and civil partners can usually pass assets to each other tax free (gov.uk/inheritance-tax, as at July 2026, subject to change). Because personal representatives sign a legal declaration of an estate's value, undervaluing assets can lead to HMRC checks and penalties rather than a quiet saving. The estate planning guide sets out how valuation and reporting fit into administering an estate.
What the numbers mean
Read together, the data points to a rising fraud threat around a fast-growing volume of estates, rather than a single measurable epidemic of "probate fraud". Fraud overall is at high levels, the category holding inheritance scams has grown, and hundreds of thousands of estates pass through probate each year, a minority of them contested. No source ties these strands into one number, and it would be misleading to pretend otherwise.
A few cautions seem fair. First, inheritance scams are not published as a standalone figure, so any precise claim about their scale should be treated with suspicion. Second, "concerns" and "stopped" cases are broad categories that include honest errors, so they overstate deliberate fraud if read as fraud counts. Third, survey and reporting-based data will always miss crimes that are never reported, so the true picture may be larger than the recorded one. Fourth, the different sources cover different populations and periods and cannot simply be added up. On balance, the honest summary is that official statistics show growing fraud pressure and a large, mostly orderly probate system, and that anyone worried about a specific estate or arrangement may prefer to check the named sources and, where appropriate, take independent advice.
Sources and methodology
Every statistic on this page comes from a named official source and is quoted as published, with no rounding, estimation or extrapolation beyond the source. Where a figure is a proportion or a change over time, it is reported exactly as the source states it. Figures were checked in July 2026 and may be revised in later releases.
- ONS, Crime in England and Wales: year ending December 2025: total fraud incidents, incidents involving a loss, and the long-run change in advance fee fraud. England and Wales.
- ONS, Nature of fraud and computer misuse in England and Wales: year ending March 2025: the definition of advance fee fraud, which includes inheritance fraud and lottery scams, and the consumer, retail and other fraud group total.
- HMCTS / Ministry of Justice, Family Court Statistics Quarterly: October to December 2025: probate grant applications and the time taken for stopped versus unstopped cases.
- OPG Annual Report and Accounts 2024 to 2025, gov.uk: concerns raised about attorneys, deputies and guardians, and accepted investigations.
- HMRC, Inheritance Tax liabilities statistics: commentary: the share of UK deaths resulting in an inheritance tax charge and the number of taxpaying estates, tax year 2022 to 2023.
- gov.uk, report a concern about an attorney, deputy or guardian: how concerns are raised and when matters are referred to the police.
Statistics reflect the reference periods stated and may be revised in later reports. This page was last reviewed in July 2026.
Frequently asked questions
How common is probate and inheritance fraud in the UK?
There is no single official count. Inheritance scams are recorded within "advance fee fraud", part of the 4.4 million estimated fraud incidents in the year ending December 2025 (ONS, Crime in England and Wales, YE Dec 2025, as at July 2026, subject to change). That total covers all fraud, so it is much wider than inheritance fraud alone, which is not published separately.
Is inheritance fraud increasing?
The category that contains it has grown. The ONS reports a more than five-fold increase in advance fee fraud, which includes inheritance scams, between the year ending March 2017 and the year ending December 2025 (ONS, Crime in England and Wales, YE Dec 2025, as at July 2026, subject to change). This does not isolate inheritance fraud itself, so it should be read as a trend for the wider group.
How many probate cases are disputed or stopped?
Court data does not label cases as fraud, but it does track stopped cases. Of 242,821 probate grant applications in 2025, cases stopped in the final quarter took 15 weeks on average to reach a grant, against 2 weeks for those not stopped (HMCTS, Family Court Statistics Quarterly, Oct-Dec 2025, as at July 2026, subject to change). A stop can reflect a query rather than wrongdoing.
What is the most common inheritance scam?
The ONS groups inheritance scams within advance fee fraud, where a victim is asked to pay a fee in return for a promised inheritance or reward that never arrives (ONS, Nature of fraud and computer misuse, YE March 2025). Because the data is grouped, the survey does not rank individual inheritance scam types, so any single "most common" claim would go beyond the source.
How do I report suspected inheritance or probate fraud?
Suspected fraud can generally be reported to Action Fraud or, in an emergency, the police. Where the concern involves an attorney or deputy misusing someone's money, it can be raised with the Office of the Public Guardian, which can refer possible criminal matters to the police (gov.uk, report a concern about an attorney, deputy or guardian). This is general information, not advice on a specific case.
Do these statistics cover Scotland and Northern Ireland?
Mostly no. The fraud, probate and Office of the Public Guardian figures cover England and Wales, which run their own probate and safeguarding systems. Scotland uses confirmation rather than probate and has separate crime statistics, and Northern Ireland operates its own arrangements. Only the inheritance tax measure is UK-wide. Anyone comparing across the UK would generally need each nation's own published data.