According to a study conducted by Experian Nearly 286,000 small businesses across the UK have been the victim of fraud, losing a total of nearly GBP 8 billion during their time in business.
The information services company polled 500 SME bosses and 13% have been the victim of a card, cheque or identity fraud. SMEs with more than nine employees were the most likely to have fallen victim to fraud, with 27% reportedly losing money to fraudsters, while just one-in-10 micro businesses reported fraudulent activity.
Among UK SMEs that have been victims of fraud, the average amount of money lost was GBP 2,627, but 1% of SMEs overall lost GBP 10,001 or more.
Payments business Worldpay has also claimed that instances of fraud could rocket by as much as 80% in February 2015, as hackers capitalise on customer data harvested during the Christmas shopping period.
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