by business editor Trevor Sturgess

The south east remains the capital of the UK's fraud industry, according to a survey.

Research by KPMG has revealed that total fraud against the UK Government has risen 43 per cent since the recession, most of it in London and the region as criminals adopt an increasingly businesslike approach.

Fraud levels soared to £693m in the past year, a 43 per cent increase on the previous year's total of £391m.

Most fraud involves tax. New types of tax have been accompanied by an increase in fraudulent activity, with criminals turning their attentions to carbon trading and green tax allowances.

Management fraud went up to £133m. Customer fraud has also risen from £2.5m to £25m (400 per cent) over the past three years. This category also included a couple of cases where services were abused, such as prescription fraud against the NHS.

Jeremy Outen, KPMG's Head of Fraud, said: "Financial criminals are now becoming more businesslike and methodical. The current generation of organised crime is targeting fraud - making payment systems, such as banking, tax and benefits vulnerable to attack.

"Traditionally, criminals have relied upon physical acts, such as robbery - they can now commit a fraud and achieve the same returns for much less risk.

"This is fuelling the audacity and ambition of professional criminals, driving up the size of a fraud. In addition, technology and large scale processing (such as online or call centres) have made large scale frauds easier to accomplish."