Online fraudsters are committing more crime in the UK, but it seems their targets may no longer be directly based on immediate financial gain.

A new YouGov survey, commissioned by internet infrastructure company VeriSign, showed that while 11 per cent of the UK population had been victims of online ID fraud in the past year, there was a 12 per cent rise in the number that did not suffer financial loss.

In addition, the average monetary damage suffered by the victim had fallen by 24 per cent to 352.

VeriSign believes these results indicated an increase in victims suffering from identity theft or "less immediately tangible losses," linked to rising cyber attacks in email or social networking sites.

Phil D'Angio, director at VeriSign, said in a statement: "While online ID theft may not necessarily result in immediate financial loss, web users need to remember that fraudsters can farm email and social networking sites for information which enables them to impersonate you online."

"Alternatively they could sell your information to other cyber criminals who want to use your details for criminal purposes."

However, the attitude of British online shoppers was positively aware, with 82 per cent of the survey's respondents claiming they only ever used enhanced security websites when transacting online and sought out sites with security symbols proving their authenticity.