Study reveals 6% uptick in online fraud cases across last 12 months

Cyber crime can take a number of different forms, of course, from identity theft through to scam products being sold and bought online. No matter what type of fraud it is, there’s often a far-reaching impact, with victims potentially suffering emotional effects as well as experiencing financial loss.  According to Action Fraud, 2019-2020 witnessed losses of £5.4 million across the UK due to cyber crime. How prevalent is online fraud, then, and what can individuals do to protect themselves from the fraudsters? comparethemarket.com used Government data, including that published in the Crime Survey for England and Wales, to gain a better understanding of the online fraud threat.

Action Fraud suggests that, in the year ending September 2020, there were 352,132 fraud offences perpetrated against people living in England or Wales. That’s the number of reported cases and, as stated, is an increase of 6% when compared with the previous year, which begs the questions: ‘Did the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns bring out more fraudsters?’ and: ‘Are people more susceptible to these crimes with more time now being spent at home and online?’

With so many different types of online fraud, there are various ways in which a person can be vulnerable. Data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales shows that, in those crimes where money was given, sent or transferred from the victim to the fraudster, the majority happened after the victim responded to fraudulent communication. 68% of victims experienced fraud this way, compared with 32% who hadn’t responded to fraudulent communication.  When it comes to financial loss, there was a fairly even split between those who sent money in response to communication (47%) and those who didn’t (53%). Money was taken in different ways, with 66% of victims receiving requests for payments, like bank transfers, sending money online or sending cash. Just 5% reported having payments taken from their accounts, like direct debits, standing orders and BACS/CHAPS payments.

Credit card fraud

22% of people with credit cards who responded to a comparethemarket.com survey in October last year have experienced fraud. A quarter of them (25%) believe this happened when making a payment online and 2% as a direct result of receiving a call from fraudsters.   Money was stolen in 46% of cases and, for many, a significant amount. Of those who had money stolen, 19% lost between £251 and £500, but the mean amount was £667.01. This figure was considerably higher for the 45-54 years old age group who lost a mean amount of £1,312.05.

Viruses are often used to attack tech and gadgets. They can range from simply being a nuisance by slowing down a device or corrupting files through to malware that can steal personal information including online banking details.  While any online device can fall victim to cyber attacks, laptops are most commonly infected with viruses. They account for 53% of virus reports, followed by 32% from desktop computers, 8% from mobile phones, 4% from handheld computers and 3% from other devices. More often than not, viruses come from opening an email, attachment or web link.

Most users (52%) became aware of a virus when their device started performing badly or stopped working altogether. This compares with 24% who started to see pop-ups appearing on the screen that could not be removed. Just 10% of these were first detected by anti-virus software after the device was infected. The effects of viruses range from them causing technical difficulties through to demands for money.

With online fraud there’s usually no in-person contact with the victim, and the fraudster doesn’t need to be near the victim, so the crime can be committed from anywhere in the world. In fact, in the majority of cases, the fraudster and the victim are strangers. Figures from the period April 2019 to March 2020 show that, in 83% of cyber fraud cases, the victim didn’t know the offender compared to 9% of cases where the offender knew the victim well and 8% of cases where the offender was known by sight or to speak to.

Impact of online fraud

The impact of being a victim of online fraud can be far-reaching, with a variety of emotional consequences. Three-quarters (75%) of online fraud victims who were surveyed for the Crime Survey for England and Wales said that they were emotionally affected by the crime, with 71% of them feeling annoyed and 52% feeling angry.  Of course, the impact of online fraud isn’t just emotional, but can be financial as well. 70.7% of total fraud cases between April 2019 and March 2020 resulted in a financial loss, with the median amount lost being £130. The most common amount lost was between £100 and £249, with a small percentage of frauds resulting in a loss of £40,000 and above.

Anyone can be targeted by online fraudsters, but there do seem to be some regions where more people fall victim to fraud. London has the highest number of fraud victims, followed by the South East and North West. The North East, on the other hand, has the lowest number of online fraud offences. One of the most likely explanations for this is access to the Internet and online devices in these areas. As London is a hub for business, there are likely to be far more online devices there than in other parts of the country.