Martin Lewis, the founder of the consumer website MoneySavingExpert, urged the Business Secretary to apologise, saying his comments were “outrageous”. 

“Millions of people face it every day. I’ve had over 30 scam reports just about me today,” he said.

“To have the Business Secretary try and defend the fact they put out slightly questionable, iffy crime figures by denigrating the experience that people in this country have with scams, and the lives that have been lost or destroyed because of scams, is an outrage and he must and needs to apologise if he has any shred of decency in him.”

The new figures, drawn from the Office from National Statistics, show that fraud has risen by 36 per cent between Sep 2019 and Sep 2021, to a total of 5,114,000 offences.

That means that on average, 14,010 people become victims of fraud every day of the year. More than a fifth of victims, 21.1 per cent, lose on average between £100 and £249 and more than one in six, 15.7 per cent, lose £250 to £499.

One in 10, 10.2 per cent, lose between £500 and £2,499, while one in 20, 5.3 per cent, lose between £2,500 and £9,999. Nearly one in 100, 0.8 per cent, lose £10,000 or more.