The National Fraud Authority (NFA) – which runs Action Fraud - has published its third Annual Fraud Indicator. The 2012 report estimates that fraud is costing the UK over £73 billion a year.
The report brings together existing estimates of fraud in the public domain, and new estimates produced by the NFA which aim to reveal areas of fraud loss that remain hidden from sight.
Loss estimates to fraud by sector are:
Public - £20.3 billion
Private - £45.5 billion
Individuals - £6.1 billion
Not for profit - £1.1 billion
Identity theft survey
In January 2012 the NFA surveyed a nationally representative sample of more than 4,000 UK adults online.
The results revealed that 9.4 per cent had been an identity fraud victim in the previous 12 months. The overall estimated Individual loss from identity theft is totalled at £1.2 billion.
Protecting your personal infromation
The recent launch of the NFA backed The Devil’s In Your Details campaign is raising awareness of the importance of protecting personal information and aims to remind the public to check that who they share their details with is genuine, whether this be on the phone, in person or online.
The campaign encourages consumers to suspect anyone or anything they are uncertain about, to keep asking questions and to challenge or end an engagement if it feels uncomfortable.
Fight against fraud
Stephen Harrison Chief Executive of the NFA, said: “This new estimate is significantly higher than previous attempts to quantify the scale of the problem, due to the improvement in the quality and quantity of data available to produce an estimate of fraud loss. It does not, however, represent an increase in the level of fraud”
“Over the past year the NFA has brought the fight against fraud even closer to the heart of the Government agenda to tackle economic crime, placing it within the wider programmes against organised crime and internet enabled crime”
Read more about the National Fraud Authority’s Annual Fraud Indicator.
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To report a fraud, call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or use our online fraud reporting tool.