Fraud costs the British economy £30bn every year, a report has revealed. The figure, which is more than twice previous estimates, equates to £621 per adult.

The majority of fraud, 58%, took place against the public sector, the National Fraud Authority (NFA) said in its first Annual Fraud Indicator report.

Amost a third of fraud (31%) is committed against companies and the remaining 12% is against members of the public, the report says. The highest sector was losses from tax fraud - estimated at £15.2bn - although this was only 3% of tax liabilities, the NFA said.

Dr Bernard Herdan, chief executive of the NFA said the figure was the most reliable estimate to date.

"Although the figure appears on the face of it far greater than the previous estimate, we know this is because we have included many additional figures that other studies have not," he said.

"With this vital information we can develop clearer priorities to prevent, detect and deter fraudsters.

"We will use the data to help identify those areas of fraud that cause the most harm to the UK economy."

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