London has been named the most notorious place for fraudulent credit card transactions, even as it emerged that the rate and extent of the crime is far less reported.

New research by The 3rd Man and 192business.com revealed the major areas in the UK where business is booming for credit card fraudsters and how they are skilfully preying on unsuspecting victims.

The crime is worth over half a billion pounds, higher than official figures suggest, according to The 3rd Man study.

Based on postcode analysis it also revealed that South East London, particularly Thamesmead (SE28), is highly risky for the plastic fraud. Other culprits in this category are SE18, SE15, SE6 and SE17.

Romford came third on the list of hotspots outside London, with Manchester (5th), Coventry (7th), Ilford (8th), Nottingham (9th) and Dartford (10th) making the top 10 list.

More disturbing is the revelation by users of 192business.com customer ID check service that for every fraud reported at least eight attempted ones are never reported by security officials and the banks.

“Investigations like this continue to show that card crime is a major and growing threat to customers and retailers,” commented fraud expert and director at The 3rd Man, Andrew Goodwill.