An estimated five million fraud cases occurred last year, representing 40% of all crimes

SCAMMERS is behind more than a third of all crimes, the figures show.

An estimated five million cheating incident took place in the year to June – a 32% increase over the same period last year.

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That number accounts for 39.4% of the 12.7 million crimes recorded, according to a report by the Office for National Statistics.

According to Labour’s analysis of official figures, phone fraud increased by 82% while online shopping scams increased by a third.

It comes as Cabinet Secretary Steve Barclay warned Black Friday shoppers about scammers. “This new wave of crime won’t stop at stealing our hard-earned cash,” he said.

About 4,000 online stores have seen payment pages being tampered with.

And the National Cyber ​​Security Center defeated 700,000 phishing campaigns in the last year alone.

UK Finance called the rise in fraud a “national security threat”. Shadow Security Secretary Connor McGinn said the government’s inaction was “putting the public at risk”.