Dishonesty and fraud in the UK is growing, helped by the internet, new technologies and changing social attitudes.

This was the damning conclusion of two studies, one by identity security company TSSI, and the other by fraud protection company Early Warning.

TSSI's Dishonest Britain Study 2005 said the problem is "shockingly widespread". Of 1,000 people surveyed, nearly half admitted to forgery and one in ten to low level identity fraud. Nearly 12 per cent of people owned up to low level electronic identity fraud, by dishonestly impersonating someone else email.

Stewart Hefferman of TSSI said while some of the scams had always been around and popular with certain age groups such as faking identity cards, new technology and the internet made it increasingly easy to fake these items or forge others such as concert tickets.

He also warned this problem will continue to grow as attitues appear to be changing and people see this behaviour as socially acceptable and often merely a means of getting back at 'rip off Britain' or minor misdemeanors.

This growth in dishonesty is backed up by fraud protection company Early Warning which said the public and not organised crime is responsible for one of the latest and fast growing internet scams.

Known as customer denial fraud, the scam starts when a person who has bought a product online receives their credit card company’s statement. The goods have been delivered, but the credit card customer denies ever ordering or receiving the goods.

Internet or other fraud insurance that most companies provide is then invoked, with the result that the value of the order is charged back to the merchant because it is so difficult to prove the goods have been delivered.

This fraud has grown by 30 per cent over the last four weeks said Early Warning and is expected to increase in the run up to Christmas.