Fraud costs the British economy more than £30bn a year, according to the government’s first official estimate.

The National Fraud Authority (NFA) said on average fraud costs every adult £621 a year, through both its direct effects and the indirect impact of losses being recovered through taxes and the increased prices of products and services.

“This is a staggering figure which gives the UK its first comprehensive picture of the devastating consequences fraud has on the UK economy,” said NFA Chief Executive Bernard Herdan.

The public sector accounted for 58 percent of all fraud loss in 2008, the NFA said, with estimated losses of £17.6bn, although this was a relatively small amount given the sector’s overall turnover.

Within this, tax fraud was the highest single area, estimated at £15.2bn or around three percent of total tax liabilities, said the NFA, which is part of the Attorney General’s office.

The financial services industry was the biggest loser in the private sector, hit by total fraud of £3.8bn, including £1bn of mortgage fraud and more than £2bn lost in insurance fraud.

The charity and voluntary sector lost £32m to fraud, while fraud against individual consumers, including mass-marketing frauds such as lottery and loan scams, totalled £3.5bn. “With this vital information, we can develop clearer priorities to prevent, detect and deter fraudsters,” said Herdan. “We will use the data to help identify those areas of fraud that cause the most harm to the UK economy.”

The NFA said it was likely the figure, calculated using data provided by private and public sector organisations, underestimated the total financial loss resulting from fraud as much of it remains undetected or unreported.