REPORT SUSPICIOUS TRANSACTIONS

IF YOU spot a payment on your bank statement that was not made by you, make sure you report it to your bank.

It is obliged to refund you if you haven’t been negligent with your details. For example, if you give your PIN to someone else and they then commit fraud on your account, you’re unlikely to get your money back.

Fraud expert Suzanne Raftery, of Requite Solutions, says: ‘There are so many victims of fraud and not enough people to investigate and solve these crimes. This is why it’s important to take a proactive approach with regards to your own personal risk. There’s a distinct lack of

collaboration and a reluctance to share data and trends. Action Fraud, the cyber-crime reporting service, is overwhelmed and the police are not able to investigate robustly the few fraud cases they do cherry pick.’

Of 600,000 reports received by Action Fraud in 2016/17, more than 280,000 were classified as crimes. Just 25 pc were sent to police forces for further investigation, and 14 pc resulted in action.

An Action Fraud spokesman says that the scale and nature of the threat from fraud means it can be incredibly difficult to make arrests. He says: ‘Other tactics need to be utilised, such as crime prevention