London remains UK's card-fraud capital

The UK's top card-fraud hotspots have been revealed in a report that shows the crime is spread across the country.

London, specifically the south-east area of the capital, saw the most card-not-present fraud over the past six months, with Romford and Manchester close behind, at third and fifth place respectively in the top 10.

Security-analysis firm The 3rd Man looked at 30 million online and mail-order card transactions from high-street retailers and pinpointed the card-fraud blackspots.

Outside the capital, fraud was concentrated in Coventry, Dartford, Ilford and Nottingham, which all appeared in the top-10 fraud-hotspots list.

Wales and Northern Ireland are the least active places in the UK for fraudulent card crime, with only Cardiff and Belfast recording notable levels of activity.

Both Liverpool and Kilmarnock have seen a drop in card-fraud levels compared to the last postcode analysis.

Andrew Goodwill, director of The 3rd Man, attributed the fall to increased levels of policing concentrating on card fraud in these areas.

He said: "Police have focused on these problems in these areas and it has worked. It backs up what the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee said about the need for more policing in this area."