The research for Barclays by YouGov showed that almost half of SMEs surveyed (44 per cent) had been targeted by fraudsters, with approximately one in four (23 per cent) of those targeted having fallen victim.

Barclays has launched a nationwide campaign to help small businesses tackle cybercrime and fraud, with new research suggesting that online fraud has resulted in the loss of more than 50,000 British jobs to date as SMEs had to make redundancies to recover costs.i

• New research shows frauds against small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) cost £35,000 on average
• Suggests impact of fraud has resulted in over 50,000 job losses at Britain’s SMEs