Fig. 2

a Comparison between cheque and banking fraud offenses registered by UK Finance (2012–2017). Source: UK Finance. b Comparison between cheque and banking fraud losses in millions of pounds registered by UK Finance (2008–2017). Source: UK Finance. c Trend of arrests due to fraud in the United States (1986–2015). Fraud is defined as “The intentional perversion of the truth for the purpose of inducing another person or other entity in reliance upon it to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right. Fraudulent conversion, obtaining of money or property by false pretences, confidence games, and bad checks, except forgeries and counterfeiting, are included”. Source: UCR. d Trend of number of other forgery offences recorded by the police in England and Wales (1990–2015). We have selected this category from among all fraud offences since it is the only one with consistent values reported during the indicated period. The National Crime Recording Standard was introduced in 2002–2003, and data before and after that date are not directly comparable. Source: UK Home Office Official Statistics. e Trend of Internet sales as a percentage of total retail sales in England and Wales (2007–2017). Source: ONS. f Trend of plastic card fraud offences reported to the NFIB (2011–2018). Source: UK Finance