More Than 40 Percent Of U.K. Users Say They Have Been Fraud Victims

Nearly half of consumers in London have been victims of identity theft or credit card fraud, according to a survey released today.

The survey of 1,000 commuters in London was conducted by the producers of Infosecurity Europe, an IT security conference taking place in that city this week.

According to the survey, 44 percent of respondents said they have suffered from bank or credit card fraud, and 42 percent have had their identity stolen. The average amount stolen was nearly $3,000 per person, and 37 percent did not get their money back from the bank.

People who lost a small amount of money were far less likely to get their money back from their banks than people who lost a large amount of money, according to the study. Ninety-one percent of people who lost more than $10,000 got their money back; only 41 percent of people who lost less than $200 were reimbursed.

Sixty percent of respondents blamed retailers for making them vulnerable to fraud, while only 12 percent blamed the banks, and 28 percent said it was their own fault that they had lost money or had their identity stolen.

More than one-quarter of respondents (27 percent) felt they were most likely to have been victimized while online via websites or email. One-fifth (20 percent) said they lost their details in face-to-face transactions in shops, hotels, or other locations. Fifteen percent said they were most likely duped via phone fraud schemes. Forty-two percent of consumers said the fraud happened to them while they were outside the U.K. More than half of the people who had been defrauded said their credit rating was worse, according to the survey. More than one-third (37 percent) had stopped online banking since being victimized, and 34 had stopped online shopping. Nineteen percent of respondents said they would not buy goods from any website online. Have a comment on this story? Please click "Discuss" below. If you'd like to contact Dark Reading's editors directly, send us a message.