Just when the middle classes thought they had enough to worry about, with house prices falling, the cost of the typical weekly shop steadily increasing and the pound's sluggish performance against the euro making for pricey holidays to the sun, they have now been warned that they are among the most vulnerable to credit card fraud and identity theft.

Just recently the UK payments authority CIFAS reported that the number of fraud cases brought to their attention grew by ten per cent over the first quarter of 2008 in comparison to the same three month period of last year.

Some 52,286 Britons unwittingly fell victim to the growing crime, with instances of facility takeover, whereby a fraudster impersonates somebody so as to takeover their account, grew by a massive 146 per cent over the same period.

While many of those within the middle strata of Great British society may take comfort in the fact that burglary or violent robbery rates are, on a whole, lower in the leafy suburbs than they are in the urban concrete jungles, financial fraud is now the great leveller, affecting rich as well as poor and old as well as young.

Neil Munroe, external affairs director at Equifax, explained: "People who have a reasonable income, and have access to credit quite easily, will be targeted. ID theft and fraud isn’t just about getting hold of someone’s credit profile and taking out credit in their name, it’s also getting hold of accounts where there might be money saved or bank accounts. Those people would represent very rich pickings for a fraudster."

At particular risk are the country's well-off grandparents, experts have warned.

Not only are their life savings likely to attract the attentions of online ne'er-do-gooders, but the fact that they are the least likely to have signed up to online banking or keep on top of their bank statements means that crimes against this demographic are likely to go undetected for longer periods of time.

As such, people need to take a cautious approach to all things concerning their personal information, even if it means becoming completely untrusting.

Simple things such as not disclosing sensitive data over the phone or internet if at all unsure or securely disposing of bank statements or payslips can make a massive difference.

As experts point out, credit card profiles are often worth many times the average credit limit.

Though it may be comforting to try and ignore this unpleasant Crimean ostrich-like approach, it could ultimately cost the middle classes dear.