The head of the Metropolitan Police has come under fire after suggesting that banks should stop refunding some online fraud victims as it "rewards" consumers for being lax about Internet security.

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe's remarks follow the publication of new figures showing that losses due to online banking fraud in the UK rose by 64% in 2015 compared with the year before, which gave it a total of £133.5m.

He told The Times: "If you are continually rewarded for bad behaviour you will probably continue to do it, but if the obverse is true you might consider changing behaviour. The system is not incentivising you to protect yourself. If someone said to you, 'If you've not updated your software I will give you half back', you would do it."

However, consumer group Which? branded his comments "astonishingly misjudged", with executive director Richard Lloyd saying that its own investigation into the matter had found that banks were dragging thier feet when dealing with fraud

"The priority should be for banks to better protect their customers, rather than trying to shift blame on to the victims of fraud," he added.

Meanwhile Saga boss Paul Green was equally scathing. He said: "Blaming the victims of crime is no way for anyone to behave let alone the Metropolitan Police Commissioner. Keeping up with scams is almost a full-time job."

He continued, "Society expects the banks and the police to be able to keep us safe from this type of crime - if they're unable to keep up with the ever sophisticated nature of this fraud, what chance do the rest of us have?"