Analysis of types of fraud by county shows marked differences across the UK.

Based on reports to Action Fraud over the past two years, London is the capital of online shopping and auction fraud, with 17 reports per 10,000 people, compared with a national average of 13.

It also has the highest reported rate for ticket fraud and investment scams.

Norfolk, had the highest reported rate for computer fixing fraud. 15.8 reports were recorded per 10,000 people in the past two years, well above the national average of 5.9.

Residents of Sussex made the most reports of dating scams.

The most common fraud types are shown in the table below with the county recording the highest number of incidents.

 

Fraud type	Police force	Number of reports per 10,000 people	National average reports per 10,000 people
Retail/consumer fraud	Essex	12.7	11.3
Cheque, plastic card and online bank fraud	Essex	12.2	5.4
Hacking: social media and email	Hertfordshire	3.5	2.5
Online shopping and auctions	London (Metropolitan)	17	13
Ticket fraud	London (Metropolitan)	4.5	2.2
Investment fraud	London (Metropolitan)	1.9	1.3
Computer fixing fraud	Norfolk	10.3	5.9
Fake loan fraud	Northamptonshire	1.8	1.2
Mandate fraud	Surrey	3.3	2
Computer virus attacks	Surrey	2.5	1.9
Bogus tradespeople	Surrey	3.2	1.8
Dating scams	Sussex	1.9	1.1
Advance fee fraud	Warwickshire	15.8	11.9

Source: Which? analysis of Action Fraud data between 2017-18 and 2018-19

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