Dorset has been revealed as the national capital for computer fraud.

Latest figures show there were 3.8 reports of computer virus, malware or spyware fraud for every 10,000 people in 2015-16 compared with a national average of 2.3.

The figures were revealed by consumer champion Which? after it analysed thousands of reports made to Action Fraud. 

Which? discovered reported fraud in the UK rose by 10 per cent with 264,204 frauds reported in 2016.

In May 2016 eight men from London were jailed for a scam which defrauded pensioners from the south of England out of more than £1 million.

Many of their elderly and vulnerable victims lived in Dorset. One, aged 94, lost £130,000.

Commander Dean Haydon of the Metropolitan Police said: “They callously and systematically defrauded elderly people of their life savings.”

Gareth Shaw, money expert from Which? said: “As more information is available about us online than ever before, fraudsters are finding it much easier to know who to target and how.

“These criminals are constantly finding new ways to rip us off and those tackling fraud should be upping their game.

The government needs to set out an ambitious agenda to tackle fraud, while law enforcement agencies need to be working harder to identify and protect the people most at risk from fraud.”

The Which? figures also revealed that Surrey is the national capital for financial investment fraud, Norfolk for dating fraud and Warwickshire for retail fraud.

A spokesman for Dorset Police said cyber crime is a fast-growing area and falls into two categories.

Cyber-enabled crime involves traditional crimes committed using the internet such as theft, harassment, fraud, identity theft, selling stolen goods, drug dealing.

Cyber-dependent crime is online crime where a digital system is the target. These include attacks on computer systems to disrupt IT infrastructures, such as unauthorised access (hacking), malicious software programming (malware) or denial of service attacks.

Advice on how to avoid becoming a victim is available at dorset.police.uk