People are not becoming more aware of phishing scams, it is claimed, which could cause them to lose money.

Simon Crisp, director at Shopsafe.co.uk, says fraudsters are becoming smarter, which is not helped by people also being naturally trusting.

"Certainly a universal scheme like chip and pin is one of the weapons for combating fraud, but education is a big part of it," he continues.

When such emails arrive in people’s inboxes, they are often led to believe the address is personal, which encourages them to give out personal details, he says.

He believes one of the main drivers of fraud is companies not using details properly, which is made worse once they make it into the public domain.

According to the latest Apacs figures, card fraud losses totalled £609.9 million, online banking fraud losses £52.5 million and cheque fraud losses £41.9 million in 2008.

It also claims chip and pin has had a positive impact on the fraud statistics, with losses as a percentage of plastic card turnover amounted to 0.12 per cent in 2008, less than the 0.14 per cent figure in 2004.