Ian Millar, a retired trade union official from Dumfriesshire, has not so far been the victim of a fraud.

But he does believe in checking his bank and credit card statements carefully, after recently discovering a mystery payment to the AA, writes Simon Bain.

"I phoned and said I didn't want to pay it, and they were perfectly charming about it and said they would stop it." It turned out he had been signed up to "continuous payment authority", used by breakdown services, mobile phone and broadband providers, health clubs and insurers. The Consumer Protection Act gives a business the right to renew your payment indefinitely, unless you tell them to stop.

The Office of Fair Trading has warned that customers are not always being made aware of what they are signing up to, and may be misled about their rights to cancel. Mr Millar, 70, was told he would be refunded within 10 to 14 days, but insisted on immediate payment. "It was done within two hours," he said.

THANKS to the internet, it has never been so easy to keep track of our financial affairs. Access to our accounts is just a few clicks away, and we can also stay informed about the latest deals and personal finance products on the market. However, with all the convenience brought by the internet comes more than a little risk.

Threats to the confidentiality of our personal information are ever present online. Many email users will have some experience of "phishing", a criminal activity which persuades people to disclose key information like bank account numbers, credit card details and passwords via what appear to be messages from legitimate sources.

People can also be exposed to having their computers targeted by viruses, their email and social media accounts hacked, and attempted fraudulent selling.

According to research from government security service Get Safe Online, more than half of the UK population have been subject to attack by online criminals.

It said the average cost of a successful attack was £243 – but as well as losing out financially, victims have the inconvenience of changing all their online passwords and trying to fix the problem, and replacing bank or credit cards.

CIFAS, the UK's fraud prevention service, whose 270 member organisations work across the banking, credit card and other financial sectors, reported a record 246,325 incidents of fraud last year, 5% more than in 2011. Identity-related crime accounted for two-thirds of this, and within identity fraud, 80% of crimes were committed online.

Fraudulent misuse of an account remained the second most common type recorded. Many of these frauds bore the hallmarks of "money mule" schemes, which often involve using unwitting individuals to transfer the proceeds of online crime.

That fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated in their methods is arguably making it more likely that people succumb to the threat.

Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) said almost 80,000 taxpayers were targeted last year by bogus emails promising a tax refund in exchange for personal, credit card or banking details. HMRC noted that in some cases these emails had links to a clone of its official website, convincing people to hand over their details. The organisation urged people not to respond to such requests, and said it never sends out emails when it comes to genuine tax rebates.

Margaret Sinclair, tax partner in the Edinburgh office of accountancy firm French Duncan, said she is contacted regularly by clients regarding the legitimacy of communications that seemingly look genuine but which ask for key information or funds to be handed over.

Ms Sinclair said: "[The scams] are a lot more sophisticated than in the past, when you would maybe receive an email from Nigeria saying you were entitled to money. They now look a lot more official."

Financial Fraud Action UK and The UK Cards Association have also highlighted the damage caused by a phone scam that involves fraudsters posing as bank staff and asking people to divulge their PINs for credit and debit cards.

Although banks insist they never ask customers to reveal such details, research has found that one in 10 people would reveal those details over the phone. That gives some explanation as to why such scammers were responsible for more than £7.5 million of fraud committed on credit and debit cards between January and August last year, when more than 1600 bank customers fell victim.

There are also fears that the problem is escalating, as the amount stolen through this type of deception in the first eight months of 2012 was 10 times greater than the figure for 2011.

For all that the threat of being caught out by fraud is real and unlikely to disappear any time soon, there is plenty people can do to mitigate the risk. When it comes to phone-based fraud, banks emphasise that customers should never reveal their PIN – this is something genuine bank staff never ask for.

And consumer solutions company Equifax emphasises the importance of consumers monitoring their personal information for signs that they might have been intercepted.

The firm's external affairs director, Neil Munroe, said: "Stealing personal information is where most fraud begins. And with a stolen ID, a fraudster can effectively become you – taking money, setting up bank and other financial accounts, and even taking out a mobile phone in your name. Yet it's incredible how relaxed people are with their personal information.

"It's also incredible that so many people simply don't realise they have been the victim of this invisible crime, until they go to apply for new credit."

l Check bank and credit card statements for unauthorised transactions.

l Never share or write down PINs.

l Avoid using common words or numbers in passwords, such as birth dates.

l Never divulge personal details over the phone.

l Log out properly after using online banking.

l Ensure your computer anti-virus software is up-to-date and updates hourly.

l Be careful what information you carry around in handbags or wallets.