The economic decline could be the cause of many more people becoming inclined to commit fraudulent offences.
Bank account fraud, it has been revealed in the study, has risen by a whole 10%: 80,105 cases were reported in 2009 compared to 72,988 the year before. Conversely, the figures also show that plastic card fraud cases are bizarrely going in the other direction and decreasing.
In marked contrast to the other figures, fraud involving plastic had actually declined since 2008. Credit card figures dropped by 9.98%, almost the same figure which bank account fraud rose by.
Identity fraud is the most common kind of credit card fraud, which makes it surprising that even here there was evidence of a decrease in cases. In all the other categories, identity fraud showed a definite rise.
‘Fraudscape’ was the name given to this report, conducted by CIFAS. The organisation have examined the cases of financial crime over 2008 and 2009 and compiled this report in order to better examine the trends which have become apparent over the last two years.
In addition to a 10% overall rise, a 32% increase in identity fraud was also shown.
Identity fraud (or identity theft) refers to the cases in which a false name or the existing name of an unaware individual is used by the fraudster. Although middle-aged men are most commonly targeted in cases of identity fraud, the CIFAS study showed an increase in female victims, meaning that noone is really safe from fraudsters. Bank accounts, mail order and communications are named by CIFAS as the highest increasing areas of fraud.
These untoward statistics have been said to be a result of the stricter scrutiny of credit card applications which has occurred during the credit crunch.
It is true that at present only one out of three credit card applications is actually accepted. Because of this scrutiny, fraudsters are unwilling to try their luck with credit cards and may be turning to other fields to use their expertise. The fact that application fraud in this category has risen decreased by 36%, which is the biggest decrease in all of the credit card fraud areas, further evidences this.
Added protection which has been introduced to protect cards during internet transactions is another main reason identified for the decrease in the credit card category and is likely to be of interest to consumers looking to compare credit cards.
For example, applications to the Barclaycard Platinum with Balance Transfer credit cards could be boosted by the active fraud monitoring that comes with the card.
There are also more recorded ‘current address’ frauds, where the current address of the victim is used, within this category. Although the figures are lower, current addresses have been more frequently used, rather than previous ones. This could signify a more cunning and adaptable average fraudster.
In some cases, the authenticity of the figures has been challenged. Some argue that some of these figures are simply consumers who claim to have been victims of fraud but have secretly actually spent the money themselves.
Emily Gorton is a staff writer with the news, reviews and price comparison site credit card comparison online, where users can compare credit cards. There are also tools to help users compare products such as 0% purchase credit cards
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