A new report showing the extent of digital fraud has been released, relating to vents in the U.K. The report comes from the website Money.co.uk, where figures from Action Fraud have been analysed for the period January – December 2021. The review outcome was provided to Digital Journal.
The data trend shows that in the last year, fraud and cybercrime in the U.K. has skyrocketed. Fraud reports have soared from 35,739 reported cases in 2020 to 445,357 in 2021. In addition, the reported losses have totalled £2.4billion ($3 billion). This represents a 174 percent increase from 2020.
Moreover, course the course of 201 both fraud and cybercrime losses saw a percentage increase quarter to quarter. The typical number of cases were 28,173 each quarter.
The challenge for law enforcement is with fraud and cybercrime being complex crimes that take time to investigate and, where possible, to prosecute. Many also originate from outside the UK, which adds a further degree of complexity.
Almost 1 in 5 of crimes committed in 2021 were related to online shopping fraud. Over the year, crimes in this category resulted in £71.5 million ($100 million) of losses. This translates to the average victim losing £806 (around $1000).
Financial investment fraud victims were hit the hardest in 2021 with total losses exceeding £394.1 million (around $450 million), and the average victim losing £27,763 (about $30,000).
In terms of demographic groups. Gen Z and Millennials reported the highest number of crimes. This is borne out by U.K. residents aged 20-29 being targeted the most by fraud and cybercrimes in 2021 (74,380 reports with £159.4 million lost).
This section of society was followed by those aged 30-39 (73,000 cases with £201.9 million lost). Individuals younger than 70 years were largely victims of online shopping and auctions fraud, whereas people aged over 70 years old were more commonly experiencing crimes in the categories of computer software fraud and advance fee fraud.
Across the 49 policing areas, those living outside of the U.K. but within a Crown Dependency, in this case Jersey and Guernsey, had the highest financial loss on average per victim at £22,726 and £17,647 respectively. Within the U.K., victims in North Wales, Cleveland and Dyfed-Powys had the lowest average loss per victim at under £2,500 each.
The extent of fraud demonstrates why consumers should be cautious and highlights the importance of making payments with credit cards, where there is legal redress should an incident of fraud occur.
