The Association of Payment Clearing Services (APACS) has reported that nearly £800 a minute is being stolen via credit cards used fraudulently over the internet, phone of fax.

This ‘card not present’ fraud is the most vulnerable because no form of signature or pin is required and security measures such as the new chip and pin card do not help.

Increasing online shopping is making the issue worse. Three years ago only one in five computer owners shopped online, now it is three in five.

APACS said that a survey of more than 2,000 people showed that one in three people did not shred or burn bank and credit card statements and 19 per cent had let someone else use their card to buy something over the internet or telephone.

The figures also showed that many people do not check their bank statements and were not concerned if someone took their card out of their sight when they were using it. Both of which are important steps in preventing and identifying fraud.

Identify theft, where someone uses another person’s details and address to apply for credit in their name, has also increased by £10 million on the previous year to £25 million.