MORE CREDIT CARD FRAUDSTERS live in deprived areas of South East London than anywhere else in the UK, according to a marketing survey.

The Saarf London area of Thamesmead tops the UK's card fraud charts, according to 3rd Man, a firm that provides an anti-card-fraud service. 3rd Man and its business partner 192.com said in a statement today that Thamesmead is " gaining notoriety as the place with the most fraudulent activity in the UK."

The crime level is one of the key indicators used to measure poverty in different areas of the UK, of which Thamesmead is also in the top rankings.

Poverty indicators used by the New Policy Institute include things like the lack of consumer goods, infant deaths, dental health, unemployment, low pay, suicides, premature death, mental health and over-crowding.

Andrew Goodwill, fraud expert at 3rd Man Group, said the answer to the problem was catching and prosecuting more credit card fraudsters. "By exposing where fraudsters congregate and how exactly they deceive and steal, the police and other law enforcement authorities should be able to deal with the problem more effectively,” he said in the statement.

3rd Man's data could be used only for a rough indication of card fraud in relation to poverty. UK poverty stats are provided for each postcode, but 3rd Man's data provides crime within postcode districts, each of which consists of 15,000 postcodes. But the purpose of this marketing survey was clear, aside from giving a lesson in the bleedin' obvious, and that was to promote the idea that the way to tackle card fraud is to spend more money catching fraudsters, rather using more money nurturing the deprived communities from which those fraudsters might come. The statement said rather that protection should be given to consumers.

One fraudster was quoted as saying, “They work in bars where the pay’s rubbish and they get treated like idiots by the boss and the customers, so its like Christmas for them when I come along and offer them a way to make shed loads of cash without any risk.”

The other areas black-marked as areas that "house the worst offenders" included the south London postcodes SE18, SE15, SE6 and SE17. Also blighted were, in order of crimes committed, Romford, Manchester, Coventry, Ilford, Nottingham, and Dartford.

Wales and Northern Ireland had the least card fraud, apart from in the inner cities of Cardiff and Belfast. Exeter, Newcastle, Aberdeen and Glasgow were also mentioned. µ