The prevalence of most types of financial fraud has been steadily increasing during the first three quarters of 2007.
That is according to a new report from the Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance System (CIFAS), the UK's fraud prevention service, which compared figures from the first three quarters of 2007 to the same period during 2006.
There was a 23 per cent rise (57,321 cases) in application fraud, where criminals tell lies on application forms in order to attain credit, insurance and other financial products, and an increase of nine per cent in the prevalence of false insurance claims.
Although identity fraud showed a slight decline (one per cent), the number of cases identified was still startlingly high, 57,302, and the number of victims of identity fraud actually increased by two per cent to 52,167.
On a more positive note, CIFAS reported that efforts on behalf of its member banks and building societies had seen approximately £1,900 in potential fraudulent losses avoided every single minute during the nine month period, up from £1,400 during the same period in 2006.
CIFAS chief executive Peter Hurst recently welcomed government plans to provide £28 million to fight against fraud, stating: "A national fraud strategy with the infrastructure to implement it is long overdue. This will help provide the means to make the UK a hostile environment for fraudsters."
© Adfero Ltd
