There was a sharp increase in fraudulent attempts to open current accounts in the UK during the first three months of 2011, research from Experian has found.The credit reference agency found 35 in every 10,000 current account applications were detected as being fraudulent during the first quarter of 2011. This was 58% higher than in the fourth quarter of 2010.
As a result, for the first time, current account application fraud overtook mortgage and automotive finance fraud rates to become the most targeted financial product.
Attempted mortgage fraud increased by 7% quarter-on-quarter during the first three months of the year with 34 in every 10,000 applications uncovered as fraudulent in the first quarter, the second busiest period for mortgage fraud ever recorded by Experian.
And 20 in every 10,000 applications for financial products were found to be fraudulent during the first quarter of 2011, an increase of 24% on the previous quarter.
Nick Mothershaw, director of fraud and identity solutions at Experian, said account takeover fraud was also on the rise.
“As increasingly sophisticated identity verification and fraud prevention technologies have made life more difficult for fraudsters, some have turned their attentions to current accounts, believing them to be a softer target to then launch attacks on more lucrative credit card and mortgage products,” he said.