Dishonesty and fraud are widespread in the UK, with nearly half of respondents to a survey admitting to forgery and one in 10 to low level identity fraud, according to security firm TSSI Systems.

A quarter of Britons confessed to exaggerating their educational qualifications to gain employment, and 10 per cent had misused ID or access control systems by impersonating someone else or assisting someone to do so.

Some 32 per cent admitted to conning their way past security personnel, and 21 per cent owned up to having used fake identity cards.

"Dishonesty and fraud are shockingly widespread," said Danny Chapchal, executive chairman at TSSI Systems. "Despite Britain's terror alert, UK citizens' irresponsible identity abuse is making it harder to tackle this threat."

Forty-five per cent of people admitted to some kind of forgery. ID cards were by far the most popular item, at 18 per cent of respondents.

Other items included doctors notes (five per cent), letters on company letterheads (four per cent), reference letters (four per cent), travel tickets (two per cent), concert tickets (one per cent) and sporting events tickets (one per cent).

Just over one in 10 people owned up to low-level electronic identity fraud by dishonestly impersonating someone else over email. A further 23 per cent admitted that they had been tempted to do so.

Seven per cent confessed to assuming another person's identity through forging their signature on letters or cheques.

Meanwhile the cost of fraud to the nation rose to nearly £16bn last year, according to research by insurer Norwich Union, which amounts to about £650 per household.