Invasion of the scammers: why is Britain so vulnerable?

Fraud figures are notoriously unreliable, but the UK seems to lag behind in tackling the crime

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IS FRAUD on the rise, or in retreat? Rather like the crime itself, the statistics are multi-layered. According to Britain’s main fraud prevention service, Cifas, which houses the most comprehensive database of confirmed fraud data, cases overall fell 11 per cent last year, thanks to police crackdowns. But there are still 600 incidents confirmed every day and – given the noted reluctance of fraud victims to report crimes – that figure is almost certainly the tip of the iceberg.

A separate study by Citizens Advice, which has just launched Scams Awareness Month to encourage a fight-back, found that around four million UK households fell victim to scammers in the past year (a 25 per cent rise), with the elderly and hard-up particularly vulnerable to “invasion through their computers, phones, letterboxes and on the doorstep”.

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writes profiles for Money Week and is City editor of The Week.