Despite reports earlier in the month that stated fraudulent finance claims were becoming less successful, new research has shown that the applications themselves have become far more common.

Experian conducted the research and found that during the first half of the year the fraudulent claims soared. Around 19 of every 10,000 applications for financial services were found to be of a fraudulent nature – a staggering 33% more than during the second half of 2009.

The hike is due to people lying to secure ever tougher criteria to achieve credit or finance for services.