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ID fraud on the rise

Incidents of phishing, ID theft and other online crime activities contributed to the number of cyber crimes in the UK increasing last year, new figures show.

According to online security firm Garlik's cybercrime report, more than 3.5 million online crimes were reported as overall cybercrime rose by nine per cent from 2006.

Among these crimes is online financial fraud, which recorded the sharpest rise with more than 250,000 incidents reported in 2007, shored up by 84,700 cases of online identity fraud through ID theft.

The report also noted that 40 per cent of all identity frauds are facilitated online.

More worrying is the fact that some internet security experts believe that these figures are conservative, reports the BBC.

"These numbers are a shadow of the real figure. Pretty much everyone who goes online will be the subject of some kind of internet crime, be it phishing e-mails, virus attacks or malware," said Andrew Goodwill of The 3rd Man.

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