Half of all fraudulent credit applications are now occurring online, while fraud incidents in branches have fallen substantially, according to Veda's latest Cybercrime and Fraud Report.As credit providers improve their identity verification systems, committing fraud by providing a false identity has become less viable and identity theft more popular, the report said.Fifty-eight per cent of credit application frauds involve the falsification of personal details, 22 per cent involve identity takeover, nine per cent involve undisclosed debts and eight per cent involved fabricated identities.The use of identity theft grew 17 per cent in the year to June.Six per cent of Australians reported having been a victim of identity theft in the past 12 months, while 25 per cent said they had been victims at some time.Veda said Australians were not good at protecting their digital identities. Only 44 per cent change their online passwords regularly and 32 per cent publish their full birthday on social media. However, 90 per cent say they use anti-virus software and 85 per cent use PayPal for secure payments.Almost half (49 per cent) of fraudulent credit applications were for credit cards.Mortgage applications accounted for 17 per cent of fraudulent credit applications and personal loan applications accounted for 14 per cent.Veda said the broker channel had become a more popular target with fraudsters. Fraudulent applications for credit via brokers grew 24 per cent in the year to June and now represent 21 per cent of all fraudulent credit applications.