15,000 fall victim to fraudsters in six months

The national fraud reporting centre Action Fraud said it had received 15,000 reports from people who had been victims of scams during the past six months.

It said the amount of money people had been tricked out of ranged from just 6 to more than 1m.

The most common type of fraud involved online shopping and auction sites, followed by advance fee frauds, under which people are asked to pay a fee for a service, often a psychic reading or arranging a loan, but they never receive what they have paid for.

Other common areas of fraud included romance frauds, which involve fraudsters gaining people's trust and then persuading them to give them money, miracle health products and boiler room scams, under which high-pressure sales techniques are used to sell people worthless shares.

The group, which provides victims of fraud with a criminal reference number, estimates that consumers lose at least 3.5bn through fraud each year.

But it added that the actual amount lost was likely to be much higher than that, as many people never report that they have been victims of fraud. It called on anyone who has been a victim to contact www.actionfraud.org.uk or telephone 0300 123 2040.

Dr Bernard Herdan, chief executive of the National Fraud Authority which runs Action Fraud, said: "People often feel embarrassed, but they shouldn't. If you report it you can help us fight the fraudsters and make the UK a more hostile environment for fraud."