Fraud leaps 29%, according to Home Office fraud statistics
Fraud in the UK is up by 29% according to the latest crime statistics released by the Home Office.
In crime statistics published for the year ending September 1999 fraud and forgery jumped by almost a third, far outreaching the overall increase in reported crime of only 2.2%.
The Home Office report says the massive figure was reached even after excluding the effect of new counting rules which allows for the recording of unreported cheque and credit card fraud discovered by police in subsequent investigations.
Statistics show under new counting rules there were 241,813 fraud and forgery crimes for the year ending September 1998, which saw a huge jump to 312,151 by September, 1999. An overall increase of more than 70,000 offences.