New Interactive Map Shows Fraud Hotspots Across UK

A new interactive map has marked all the top fraud hotspots across the UK for different types of online and offline fraud.

The map, created by Which?, revealed that Norfolk is the capital for online dating fraud in England and Wales.

The new tool was built from thousands of fraud reports between 2014-2016 that were accessed by Which? under the Freedom of Information Act, in an effort to map where certain types of fraud are most common.

And Norfolk was named the top spot for online dating fraud, with 8,311 victims getting duped by romance scammers.

According to the Which? report, the rate of dating fraud in the county is almost 50% higher than the national average, with 1.63 per 10,000 people getting scammed, compared to 1.1 across the UK.

Norfolk was also the capital for lottery scams, where people pay for tickets to a fake draw, the report rate sitting at 2.2 per 10,000.

Gareth Shaw, a money expert at Which?, said: “As more information is available about us online than ever before, fraudsters are finding it much easier to know who to target and how.

“These criminals are constantly finding new ways to rip us off and those tackling fraud should be upping their game. The government needs to set out an ambitious agenda to tackle fraud, while law enforcement agencies need to be working harder to identify and protect the people most at risk from fraud.”

Check out the interactive map here.