The high-profile chairman of Barclays Bank has become the latest victim of identity fraud after a conman stole £10,000 from his personal account in a credit card scam.

Marcus Agius, 61, who took over as Barclays chairman last January, lost the money after a fraudster convinced a call centre worker to issue a credit card in his name.

Armed with the card and personal details about Mr Agius, the conman went to a Barclays branch and withdrew £10,000 of the banking executive’s money.

Barclays, which has initiated a security review after the incident, said Mr Agius, who is paid £800,000 a year plus bonuses, has been reimbursed in full.

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“All Barclays customers, from the chairman downwards, have a 100 per cent fraud guarantee as long as they take responsible care of their information,” a bank spokesman said.

The spokesman said that the fraud was successful because of “human error”.

Identity fraud has become a significant issue for banks and is estimated to cost them more than £1.5 billion a year.

Experts say that the problem has been made worse by the popularity of social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace, where users regularly display personal information. Cifas, the fraud prevention service, said that over 40,000 identity scams were committed last year.

Mr Agius, who spent more than 20 years at the investment bank Lazard before joining Barclays, said: “Credit card fraud is an issue which our industry continues to confront. Barclays is resolved to do everything possible on behalf of our customers, to minimise its impact.”

The fraud has prompted a review of procedures at the bank and the implementation of new security checks for senior executives.

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