Cases of fraud in which a victim's debit or credit card details are obtained through scams have risen by nearly 60 per cent in the last year.
Research by Cifas, the UK's fraud prevention service, has revealed that accounts are increasingly being taken over as a result of phishing scams.
And the service also noted a rise in misuse of facility fraud, which sees offenders open accounts or other facilities with the intention of using them for fraud.
Debit and credit cards have been used for 17 per cent more cases this year than in 2007, while bank accounts have seen an increase of 62 per cent.
Chief executive of Cifas Peter Hurst stated: "As people feel the pinch in the economic downturn, many take more desperate measures to make ends meet. Whatever the root causes of this rise, fraud never goes out of fashion."
Last week UK payments association Apacs found that fraud carried out on lost or stolen credit cards had fallen by 11 per cent in the last year.
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