Metric permalink

Fraud incidents (CSEW)

Survey

Part of the Rule of Law and Safety domain. Estimated total fraud incidents per year in England and Wales based on CSEW, the largest crime type by volume.

Latest data

Latest reading

Latest value
4.5million incidents per year

YE Mar 2026

Previous value
4.2million incidents per year
+1pts
Direction of badnesshigher is worse

A higher reading is treated as worse for this indicator.

Score composition

Stress score

84/100

Blended from three components: (60% weight), trend (30% weight) and volatility (10% weight). Full formula on the methodology page.

Level · 60% weight

80percentile

Percentile: this metric is scored against its own history, where today sits between its best and worst recorded years.

Trend · 30% weight

86deteriorating

Measured from the direction and size of the change between the two most recent readings.

Volatility · 10% weight

100

Measured from how much this indicator has swung period on period across its recorded history.

Data confidence and provenance

Confidence and source

0.75Medium0.75

How much weight to put on the reading, the mean data-confidence across the component metrics (source quality, recency and completeness).

Source

Office for National StatisticsSurvey

Crime Survey for England and Wales

Update frequency
Quarterly
Reliability
high
View source series ↗

Provenance

Provider
ONS (Crime Survey for England & Wales)
Series ID
CSEW fraud incidents
Frequency
annual
Accessed
13 August 2026

Known weakness

CSEW fraud estimates have wide confidence intervals and the survey was redesigned to capture fraud more comprehensively in 2015, creating a structural break in the series.

Notes

Verified official value from ONS (Crime Survey for England & Wales) (CSEW fraud incidents), accessed 2026-08-13.

Historical values

History

PeriodValueRelative
20173.37
20183.25
20193.81
20203.7
20214.6
20224.5
20233.5
20243.2
20254.2
20264.5