Big, bad numbers

Fraud statistics are an artistic endeavour, at best, but the National Fraud Authority’s measurement project – the Annual Fraud Indicator – aims to inject some scientific rigour: in January 2011, it came out with a headline estimated loss to the UK of UK£38.4bn annually; after a year in which to refine its methodology, we will need to wait a little longer, till the end of March, to find out if this figure has escalated.