8% of Brits Admit Engaging in 'Everyday' Fraud Last Year

Around one in 13 Brits have admitted engaging in fraudulent conduct in the past year, with many people believing that common ruses—such as claiming an online order has not been delivered to get a refund and falsifying an insurance claim—are “acceptable.”

The shock figures come from a recent survey commissioned by fraud prevention body Cifas, which also found that many cheats believe fraud is a “victimless crime.”

The survey presented 2,000 Brits aged 16 and up with ten scenarios of typical first-party fraud, asking them to anonymously state how reasonable they thought the cheat was, whether the fraudster was acting illegally and whether they themselves or someone they know has committed the same actions in the last 12 months.

The types of first-party fraud that were judged the most ‘reasonable’ include selling a vehicle that’s subject to a finance agreement (seen by 22.9% of respondents as reasonable), money muling (16.6%), and submitting a false insurance claim (10.3%). These scenarios were also the least likely to be described as illegal, although they are.

This cavalier attitude toward scams is one of the reasons fraud is on the rise. Data from the National Fraud Database revealed an 18% increase in first-party fraud in the first nine months of 2021, compared to the same period in 2020. The most common form was the misuse of bank accounts, with 56,000 cases, accounting for more than seven in 10 instances of first-party fraudulent conduct.

Young people are more likely to be involved in scams: more than one in seven Brits aged 16-34 admit to being involved in at least one form of first-party fraud.

But while this ‘everyday’ fraud is seen as victimless, it impacts all of us, Cifas’ Head of Fraud Intelligence, Amber Burridge, said. "The findings reveal a continued attitude of fraud being a victimless crime. Committing what may be seen to be ‘everyday’ fraud impacts all our daily finances, such as through higher insurance premiums, increased delivery fees and bigger council tax bills. It’s vital we all recognise the consequences of committing fraud and aren’t tempted into doing it,” she explained.

She also warned that criminals exploit this sense that everyday fraud is harmless and recruit people to unwittingly assist in schemes that fund organised crime and terrorism.

“We know criminals will often attempt to convince those they recruit that what they’re doing is harmless. A common example of this is money muling, whereby individuals are asked to receive money into their bank account and forward the funds on to another account, keeping a proportion for themself. In fact, this money has likely come from someone who has been scammed and criminals are trying to mask the money in order to fund high harm crimes such as drug trafficking, people trafficking and terrorist financing,” she said.

“If an opportunity to make money feels too good to be true, then it probably is. Always take time to do your research and consider the impacts of getting involved before doing so,” she added.