Online fraudsters stole £10.9bn in the UK last year - equivalent to a £210 loss for every person in the UK over the age of 16, official figures have revealed.

But in reality, the loss may be even greater.

Get Safe Online, the government-backed cyber safety initiative, suggested actual victims of cybercrime suffered an average loss of £523.

However, this refers to the people who actually reported the fraud to Action Fraud, the national cybercrime and fraud reporting service, while 39pc questioned by Get Safe Online said they were a victim of cybercrime but did not report it.

In the past 12 months, those living in Kent lost more than £4 billion as a result of cybercrime - by far the highest amount stolen, according to Action Fraud.

Those living in the Devon and Cornwall areas were robbed of almost £3.5 billion, while residents in Scotland have collectively been robbed of more than £394.6 million.

On the other end of the scale, people living in Jersey reported a loss of £237,315 and fraudsters took £397,465 off residents in Gwent.

Get Safe Online could not confirm how much of this was later returned to victims.