A new report from a British market research company says there is a "wave of micro crime" in the country. Researchers from the organisation YouGov said they were shocked by their findings. Matthew Smith, a data analyst at YouGov, said: "Looking around you, you probably wouldn't expect that three in every four people you see are [hiding] a criminal past. Yet that's exactly what is happening as new research…[shows] that as many as 74 per cent of British people are 'micro-criminals' – having [done] at least one very minor or 'micro' crime." The most common crime confessed to by the British public is paying someone cash for services, knowing that the person will not pay tax on it.
YouGov says that men and middle-class people were the most likely to commit these micro crimes. Researchers say 77 per cent of men and 71 per cent of women committed micro crimes. About 80 per cent of middle-class people admitted to committing micro crimes while the figure was closer to 70 per cent for working-class people. The second-most commonly committed crime was illegally downloading or streaming TV shows, movies or music. Slightly fewer than 30 per cent of people said they had done this. Other micro crimes included not paying for plastic bags in supermarkets, lying about your age to get a better deal, and eating things in a supermarket without paying.
