The UK had an estimated 11.5 million incidents of crime in the year ending December 2016, according to the latest official Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW).
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) says that police recorded a total of 4.8 million offences in the year ending December 2016, an annual rise of 9pc. However, the large volume increases driving this trend are thought to reflect changes in recording processes and practices rather than actual crime. New to the survey from October 2015 are fraud and computer misuse questions, which found that adults aged 16 and over experienced an estimated 5.4 million fraud and computer misuse incidents in the 12 months prior to interview; 3.5 million of these were fraud incidents and 1.9 million were computer misuse.
For the bulletin in full visit the ONS website.
Comment
Robert Capps, VP of business development at fraud mitigation product company, NuData Security, said “It’s reassuring to see cyber crime and fraud stats included in the annual national crime figures. I’m hopeful that this is a signal of change in law enforcement’s attitude toward online crime and fraud, heralding a growing acknowledgement of the impacts and scale of crime committed online. Anything that will help law enforcement agencies prioritise cyber crime in the UK, and demand more resources to counter such an existential threat to consumers and businesses that transact online, will be a vast improvement over what we have today. Provided these funds are spent judiciously, the fact that the government is saying they are investing £1.9bn in cyber-security over the next few years is a huge step forward.
“All forms of Identity fraud are appallingly high in the UK, with one in ten people now a victim of fraud or online offences. The UK ranks seventh highest overall in the world for cyber crime, a statistic it shares with the likes of India in this country by country comparison compiled by Forbes. Fraud accounted for 5.8 million incidents in England and Wales by the end of March 2016, and 3.8 million of those were related to bank and credit card fraud. Unless the UK would like to see these rates climb ever higher, and the damage inflicted on the public continue to grow, institutions, governments, and private companies must take these threats as seriously as other forms of crime.
“Solutions are available now in the marketplace that can help alleviate much of this type of cyber fraud. Organisations that transact online, such as banks, e-commerce stores, gaming and other vendors can take a more nuanced approach to authentication by evaluating as much contextual information about customer interactions as possible to determine if it truly is the right user presenting themselves. Passive biometrics and behavioural analytics technology can distinguish good from bad users even when new devices and correct stolen credentials are used because they rely on a different set of keys – the good customer’s behaviour. Removing the value of stolen credentials from the hands of criminals can re-balance the online identity proofing environment for consumers and organisations.”
