Fraud was today named as the most common offence as new figures revealed that true level of crime is nearly double the previous official total.
Statistics from the Office for National Statistics show that there were 11.8 million crimes committed in England and Wales in the 12 months to the end of September.
The tally is almost twice the previous official estimate of around 6 million crimes a year because of the inclusion for the first time of annual figures for fraud and computer misuse offences.
These accounted for 5.6 million crimes last year, of which 3.6 million were fraud.
That means fraud now accounts for nearly one in three of all crimes and is the country’s most common offence.
The statisticians also warn that the number of such crimes is rising by around 3 per cent a year.
Today’s figures also show “genuine” increases in “higher harm categories of police recorded violence including homicide and knife crime” as part of a 22 per cent rise in overall violent crime recorded by police.
The statisticians say this latter sharp increase is largely the result of changes to the way that crimes are recorded, including the addition of new forms of harassment to the tally and a greater focus n tackling domestic abuse, rather than a genuine rise in violence.
The statistics on fraud and computer misuse will, however, reinforce warnings from police and politicians about the increasing threat posed by online crime as more of everyday life is conducted via the internet.
Unveiling today’s figures, John Flatley, the Office for National Statistics’ head of crime analysis, said that they illustrated the changing nature of crime.
He added: “In the past burglary and theft of vehicles were the high volume crimes driving trends but their numbers have fallen substantially since then.
“When the Crime Survey for England and Wales started, fraud was not considered a significant threat and the internet had yet to be invented.
"Today’s figures demonstrate how crime has changed, with fraud now the most commonly experienced offence."
