Credit card fraud resulting from identity theft grew by almost half last year, according to figures released today by the Association of Payment Clearing Services (Apacs).

Fraud based on obtaining credit cards and loans using a victim's personal details has risen by 45 per cent from 2002, to £29.7m.

Sandra Quinn, Apacs communications director, said in a statement: "When plastic cards were first introduced in the 1960s it was never envisaged they would be used to buy goods where neither the card nor the cardholder would be present.

"Criminals have used this fact to their advantage, primarily by stealing people's card details through such techniques as skimming or 'bin raiding'."

Cardholder-not-present is now the biggest fraud type, but its rate of growth last year was markedly lower than in previous years, increasing by six per cent to £116.4m.

Meanwhile, counterfeit, lost or stolen card fraud and instances of fraud in mainland Europe all dropped last year. Apacs cited sophisticated fraud intelligence systems and the advent of chip and Pin cards for improvements in these areas.

Overall, last year saw the first decrease in the amount of fraud involving UK credit cards overseas in eight years, from £424.6m in 2002 to £402m in 2003. But UK-based fraudulent transactions showed a slight increase.