The rise of organised cyber-crime has contributed to identity fraud rising by nearly three-quarters in a year, a company has said.

The findings come from a report by credit company Experian, which says that “middlemen, techies, hackers and runners, often recruited and managed via the internet” had contributed greatly to the 2,124 of Experian's ID fraud victims in the second half of 2006. This was up by nearly three quarters compared with 2005.

Anne Green, fraud consultant at Experian, said: “Identity theft crime has evolved from the opportunist searching the bin to a range of cyber-criminals who make a business out of using the internet to commit this crime."

She said that with awareness of ID theft rising among consumers, criminals were having to use more sophisticated methods than raiding bins to obtain enough personal information to steal someone's good name.

“Names and addresses that can be found in a public service area or by going through dustbins are no longer enough to commit ID fraud, so criminals are turning to the internet to gather passwords and credit card numbers. When these are added to these basic details they can be a valuable tool in online identity fraud,” she said.

Obtaining such information can be done in a number of ways including creating spoof retail websites and through phishing emails that encourage people to click on spoofed links to obtain credit card details or reply to them with bank details.

However, even this is sometimes not enough to commit fraud. According to Ms Green some sites ask for the three-digit security code at the back of a card that is often hard to obtain via the internet. As a result “cyber-criminals will often call up and pretend they are from your bank and tell you your card has been stolen, or use the excuse that you have won a holiday to get these details,” she said.

When it comes to this, she advises people to call back on a switchboard number and check. Likewise, typing an address in a web browser instead of clicking on an email link will ensure there is less chance of logging onto a fraudulent site.

“Checking credit card and debit card bills regularly will also ensure people are alerted quickly to any ID fraud that is happening,” she said.

This advice was endorsed by Tony Neate, director of Get safe online, which found last month that a fifth of all internet users (1.7 million) had suffered from fraud while shopping online.

“By making sure they access sites with a HTTP code at the beginning of the URL and never clicking on links in an email, people can ensure they take a few steps to protect themselves,” he told Computeractive.

He said people should check the credentials of a shop they had not heard of by typing the name into Google to see if it is genuine, as well as observing browser security measures. “The padlock that appears in a browser window is a trusty sign that it is genuine," he said.

Both Ms Green and Mr Neate also advised those who have fallen victim to credit card fraud to contact their bank, which will advise them on the best procedure to follow.

The report by Experian also found that fraudsters were more likely to target a victim by using their current address, rather than a previous address. This accounted for almost half (45 per cent) of all cases reported to Experian in the second half of 2006.

Almost half of the individuals who contacted Experian did not realise they were a victim until they were contacted by a financial service company. The second largest proportion (41 per cent) became aware that they had been targeted when they obtained a copy of their credit report and saw fraudulent accounts had been opened or applied for in their names.

The Home Office provides free advice on how to avoid or deal with ID theft.