People in Cumbria faced more online shopping frauds than any other in the last 12 months.

New research uncovered by QR Code Generator QRFY showed that Cumbria Police received 2,146 individual fraud reports in the last 13 months.

The research analysed data from Action Fraud and the Office for National Statistics across England and Wales.

The most common category of these frauds was 'Online Shopping and Auction' fraud, a crime where a product purchase never arrives or is misrepresented by the seller, with 480 reports.

The 'Other Advance Fee Fraud' and 'Cheque, Plastic Cards, and Online Bank Account (non PSP)' were the second and third most common fraudulent activities reported with 221 and 176 respectively.

The latter involves offenders pretending to hold authority, tricking victims into handing over their payment cards or cheques.

Speaking on this report, the CEO of QRFY, Marc Porcar said: "The internet and widespread online connectivity has certainly created more opportunities for fraudsters to exploit people’s vulnerabilities.

"As more transactions and interactions occur online, there is a greater potential for individuals to fall victim to these kinds of scams."

He further added that large-scale data breaches, which leak individuals' personal information, act as an advantage for criminals.

These criminals then impersonate the affected individuals, leading to identity theft.

Marc suggested ways to stay safe including be cautious about sharing personal information online, use strong passwords and enable two-factor authentication for an extra security layer.

Marc emphasised the need to regularly monitor personal accounts like bank statements and credit card reports to spot suspicious activity.

He said, "This way you can catch fraudulent activity early and minimise the damage."

Over the last 13 months, Action Fraud recorded 395,105 reports of individual fraud across England and Wales - with a reported loss of £2.3 billion.