CIFAS says more than half of all frauds (57%) relate to the theft or misuse of personal or account information.
Fraudulent activity has increased by 3% in the first three quarters of 2011 on the same period last year, figures have revealed.
CIFAS, the UK’s fraud prevention service, has analysed frauds recorded by its members in the first nine months of year. It found despite a fall in new business volumes, there has been an overall increase in numerous types of fraud.
There are also increases in the fraudulent use of legitimately obtained accounts and also in successful application frauds (where fraudsters use false information, documents etc) to obtain products and services.
There has been a 12% increase in the level of misuse of facility fraud (where an account, policy or other facility has been legitimately obtained but is later used fraudulently) on the same time period last year.
CIFAS says the troubles in the economy are leading to an increasing number of people trying to lie their way into products and services.
While the overall level of application fraud remains relatively low, the number of application frauds spotted too late – after the granting of an account or facility – increased by 70% in the first three quarters of 2011, when compared with the same period in 2010.
Richard Hurley, CIFAS communications manager, said: “In the confusing economic climate that currently prevails, a wide range of fraud trends is in evidence. This demonstrates not only that fraud responds to economic conditions, but also that organisations are increasingly vulnerable to all types of fraud. So long as the current economic challenges remain, the fraud picture will remain equally volatile. The challenge for businesses, therefore, will be to ensure that fraud departments are properly staffed and that sufficiently robust procedures are in place to weed out fraud while not impeding genuine customers.”
Source: http://www.cifas.org.uk