The financial services industry loses around £3.6 billion a year to fraudsters, around 10% of the entire fraud cost to the UK economy, according to a government organisation.
The National Fraud Authority says that financial services accounted for the largest chunk of a £12 billion fraud loss attributed to the private sector during a year.
However, the figure was down slightly on the previous year's figure of £3.8 billion, thanks to improved fraud prevention methods involving plastic cards - resulting in a cut of £440 million - and cheque fraud - £30 million.
In contrast, online banking saw an increase of 14%, to £60 million. The NFA attributes this to criminals using more sophisticated methods to target customers through malware and a spike in phishing incidents.
Overall, £38.4 billion is lost in fraud a year, equivalent to £765 for every UK adult. The public sector continues to account for the highest proportion of this at £21 billion - 55% of the total - although the NFA says this is in part because of more diligent reporting. Individuals account for £4 billion and charities £1.3 billion.
Bernard Herdan, chief executive, NFA, says: "The NFA is working with its partners to promote greater fraud awareness and self-protection, encourage organisations to adopt fraud proof systems, enable fraud reporting and facilitate better sharing of intelligence on fraudsters. We want to develop a stronger counter fraud culture, which helps to disrupt fraudulent activity across the UK and globally."
You can read the full Annual Fraud Indicator here:
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