Research, Survey and Statistics

Cyber crime has risen 30% in the past 12 months since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Action Fraud.

https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2021-05-10/how-to-avoid-being-caught-out-by-online-scammers

Online scams soared by 1,500 per cent in the last year as criminals exploited crises from Covid to the chaotic aftermath of Brexit, a cyber security watchdog has reported.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/online-scams-soar-by-1500percent-as-fraudsters-and-foreign-agents-exploit-covid-and-brexit/ar-BB1gxWcA?ocid=st

A new study published recently by Juniper Research has highlighted that the value of losses due to e-commerce fraud will rise this year, from the $17.5 billion recorded in 2020, to over an estimated $20 billion by 2021; a growth of 18% over a single year.

https://thefintechtimes.com/e-commerce-fraud-expected-to-rise-18-in-2021-new-research-finds/

Fraudsters have fleeced more than £70 million from people living in our region during the Covid pandemic.

https://www.expressandstar.com/news/crime/2021/04/26/fraudsters-steal-70-million-from-regions-residents-amid-pandemic/

New government figures have revealed a sharp uplift in fraud cases since lockdown – the biggest rise in any crime category since the pandemic struck in March last year.

Fraud cases rise by 63% in 12 months, new police data reveals - FutureScot

Statistics show that the COVID-19 global pandemic has had a major impact on the criminal economy and led to a dramatic increase in fraud. Dr Nicola Harding, Academic Advisor at We Fight Fraud and Lecturer in Criminology at Lancaster University Law School, explores how the pandemic has changed criminal behaviour and its implications for the banking and finance industries.

COVID pushes criminals away from cash and into digital banking (ifsecglobal.com)

Action Fraud received more than 1,000 more reports relating to romance scams in 2020 than it did in 2019, Professional Adviser can reveal.

Romance scam reports jump by 1,000 during lockdown - Action Fraud (professionaladviser.com)

Fraudsters have stolen more than £86 million from Scots as the pandemic eases their route to locked-down victims, experts warn today.

Locked down and cleaned out: Fraud surges in pandemic as crooks steal £86m from Scots - The Sunday Post

Fraudsters are being left to run riot online as search engines leave victims exposed to sophisticated scams that are costing them huge sums of money.

Online scams skyrocket as toll reaches £1.7bn in a year (yahoo.com)

City of London Police and National Cyber Security Centre report large uptick in threats and crime related to Covid-19 over the past year, in some cases directed specifically at health organisations

More than £34.5m stolen in pandemic scams over past year (computerweekly.com)