I must put my hand up here and suggest a solution. We'll happily prevent all ID and card fraud for 5p per transaction for the majority of Brits who have a mobile phone. The criminals won't know who has a phone or not so everyone will actually be protected. No upfront infrastructure costs and no gadgets to buy. Just use any mobile on any network. You could of course spend another billion pounds on another 'smart' card solution, or if you'd feel better we'll charge 10p.

We'll make it free for all micro-transactions and let you just use the phone to pay using your card or debit account card with anonymous transactions. It's even cheaper for the merchants, they would only need a net connection for transactions which cost cents and no interchange fees.

I look at the current level of fraud and think what a joke....but I don't suppose the people losing the money think its a joke.