Fraud on the up

News Article - 26 October 2007
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Incidents of fraud in Britain are on the increase, causing concern for lawmakers and enforcers, new figures indicate.

The UK's fraud prevention service, CIFAS, has announced that a rise in most types of financial fraud was recorded during the third quarter of 2007, compared with the same period of last year.

Data provided by CIFAS members suggests that application fraud soared by 23 per cent, with a total of 57,321 cases detected and filed, while facility takeover and asset conversion cases increased by almost 34 per cent and 24 per cent respectively over the quarter.

Meanwhile, identity fraud dipped by more than one per cent over the third quarter of this year, with 57,302 cases identified and a slight increase in the number of victims. Identity fraud accounts for almost one third (29 per cent) of all fraud cases and 16 of the top 20 postcodes for identity fraud incidents are within the M25 motorway.

Peter Hurst, CIFAS chief executive, commented: "Our statistics for the first three quarters of the year show a clear and worrying trend.

"Fraudulent activity is at an all-time high. Fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated and fraud departments are working harder than ever to protect their organisations from the onslaught."

CIFAS has welcomed the announcement that the government is providing more than £28 million to tackle fraud in Britain as part of the Comprehensive Funding Review.

Under the plans, a new National Fraud Strategic Authority will be established, along with a Lead Force, centred on the City of London Police, and a National Fraud Reporting Centre.

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