The latest Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) includes — for the first time — the finding that there were an additional estimated 5.6 million incidents of fraud and computer misuse offenses in the latest year's survey (3.6 million fraud and 2.0 million computer misuse offenses).
Fraud and cyber crime now account for almost half of all crime, see how you can protect yourself https://t.co/GJ3LZwNQq3
— City Police (@CityPolice) 19 January 2017
Adding fraud and computer misuse offenses to the existing CSEW figures indicates an estimated 11.8 million incidents of crime covered by the CSEW in the survey year ending September 2016 — compared with the 6.2 million incidents of other crimes previously recorded in the survey.
5.6m fraud & computer crimes in first full year’s data from Crime Survey for England & Wales https://t.co/SQ5wC7WNEQ
— ONS (@ONS) January 19, 2017
"There are a lot of crimes now that simply didn't exist 35 years ago when the survey started. The internet wasn't a factor. 3.6 million fraud and 2.0 million computer misuse offenses have been recorded for the first full year in which such questions have been included in the CSEW," Richard Miles from the Office of National Statistics told Sputnik.
"Today's figures demonstrate how crime has changed, with fraud now the most commonly experienced offense. However, it should be emphasized that the new headline figures, including fraud and computer misuse, are not comparable with those from earlier years."
CSEW headline estimates now include fraud & computer misuse taking total to 11.8m crimes covered by survey https://t.co/gXihXS2ZXN
— John Flatley (@ONSJohnFlatley) 19 January 2017
Unreported Crimes
This is the first time fraud and computer misuse incidence rates have been included in the CSEW, with the new estimate for fraud (8 in 100 adults) being measurably higher than the incidence rates for any other offense type measured by the CSEW.
The incidence rate for computer misuse (4 in 100 adults) has been estimated at a similar level to that of criminal damage (5 in 100 adults) and vehicle-related theft (4 in 100 adults).
Read the NPCC response to latest @ONS #crime #stats for England and Wales — https://t.co/FIHPDhRJG0
— NPCC (@PoliceChiefs) 19 January 2017
"The addition of fraud and computer misuse incidents has led to the inclusion of a further 5.6 million offenses in this bulletin. These latest figures show that there were 1.9 million cases of fraud on UK-issued cards, which is an increase of 39 per cent on the previous year. The vast majority of these are not reported to the police, who have only seen a 3 per cent increase in fraud offenses," said National Police Chiefs' Council Lead for Crime and Incident Recording Chief Constable Jeff Farrar.
Limited trend data (just on plastic card fraud) shows rise in victimisation in last year which is consistent with rise shown by @FFAUK pic.twitter.com/AM4TABia6l
— John Flatley (@ONSJohnFlatley) January 19, 2017
"The ability to commit crime online demonstrates the need for policing to adapt and transform to tackle these cyber challenges. Working with the Home Office, Association of Police and Crime Commissioners and industry colleagues, Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh is leading on the digital policing programme to develop new tactics and capabilities to catch these offenders and help protect people online," he said.
