Samport

London and the South-East of England are the UK's key hotspots for fraudulent account applications across all product types, according to CIFAS , a member organization that provides fraud prevention services for 270 UK companies in financial services sectors.

The top 10 most commonly appearing postal districts in CIFAS's overall UK fraud database are all in the Greater London area. The London E6 East Ham postal district comes top for fraud across all categories in the UK, followed by CR0 Croydon and SE15 Peckham in third place.

The highly populated South-East is also a major area of activity for fraudsters, CIFAS's database reveals.

According to CIFAS, bank accounts and credit cards are fraudsters' favorite products for making fraudulent applications in the UK.

"Although it's not unexpected that fraud should be at its most prevalent in cities, it is remarkable that almost all fraudulent activity is concentrated in and around London," says CIFAS Research Manager Sandra Peaston.

According to Peaston, one reason why London is a hub of fraudulent activity is because fraudsters feel the city's population density affords anonymity. However, fraudsters targeting Greater London may have a false sense of security. "Years ago, it might have been true that big cities offer anonymity to fraudsters, but fraud data sharing has put an end to that," Peaston says.

Source: ePayments.com, July 17th, 2008.