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2007 - UK Fraud Figures - Just How Bad Is It?The Times newspaper has published details of UK fraud figures in 2007. The details were actually part of a much larger article about crime in the UK titled, "British crime lords rule £40 billion underworld" by Sean O'Neill on 8th August 2008. The figures published were collated from a number of sources including the Home Office, SOCA, British Banking Association, DWP, Fact, HMRC and UKIPO. In other words, we can presume that these are the best sources available for accuracy. The total estimated cost of fraud to the British economy in 2007 was a staggering £14 billion. Oddly, for all that we hear and read in the news and from the British press about the likely risks and costs of identity theft related crimes, they are the smaller parts of the picture. One must presume that they recieve such high profile attention because these crimes actually impact individuals and therefore are something that we fear - as opposed to frauds against large companies. These UK fraud figures from 2007 show a very different story! It is worth noting that these fruads against large faceless organisations still cost each member of the UK population. These costs may come in slightly larger insurance premiums, higher banking charges or increased taxes - but the cost is still passed to everyone. The 2007 UK fraud figures that are Identity theft related are: > Online banking fraud - £22.6m > Debit card fraud - £535.2m > Cash machine fraud - £35m These are big numbers, but they are insignificant when compared to some of the other frauds... > Insurance fraud - £1.6bn > Mass marketing scams - £3.5bn > Bogus holiday fraud - £1.17bn > Pyramid selling - £420m > Foreign lottery scams - £260m > Internet dialler frauds - £60m > Benefit fraud - £800m From the attention recieved in the press, who would have realised that 'Mass marketing scams' could be worth so much? Or that foreign lottery letters still worked? Surely by now, every UK resident must have received several of these letters? As noted above, the cost of these scams and frauds has an indirect impact upon everyone in the UK. Benefit fraud for example, at £800 million in 2007, is money that could have been spent on schools, hospitals or some other worthy project. Alternatively, it represents money raised through some form of taxation which could potentially be abolished if this fraud could be stamped out. The same logic suggests that household and motor insurance premiums could be considerably lower if there wasn't over £1 billion of annual fraud against these companies. The expose by The Times was designed around 'crime' rather than just fraud. The very interesting article suggests that much of the annual crime in the UK is controlled and overseen by around 1,000 gangs - many of which are British in origin. Many of these gangs are run by a "Mr Big" figure. The article contends that a number of these powerful operators are actually running their organisations from inside prison! One very telling statistic - if correct - is that annual profits for these criminal gangs is estimated at £40 billion. In contrast, the annual police budget is £11 billion. However, the police have far more to do than chase organised gangs! To read more about fraud figures and statistics in the United Kingdom, please visit the following pages: |