Cybercrime and Fraud spikes in the UK during the pandemic, reports say

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (TCSEW) has released data estimates about cybercrime and fraud offences growing to 43% as of June 2021, in comparison with data from June 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) expressed that the data has shown the digital space being the new target of crimes throughout the pandemic restrictions in the UK. 

Moreover, compared with years 2018-2019, there was a recorded 14% of total crime in the UK, excluding cybercrime and fraud for years 2020-2021. 

Computer misuse offences, including hacking or injecting malware or viruses to disrupt business operations and ransomware activities to extort money from organisations, have risen to 85% in 2020-2021 compared with 2018-2019. There are a recorded total of 1.8 million incidents that occurred as per data. 

The estimated 161% spike in unauthorised access to confidential data such as hacking has mostly driven the millions of incident records. Furthermore, TSCEW stated that fraud cases had been estimated to rise to 32%, largely driven by an increase in “advance fee fraud” and “consumer and retail fraud”. 

 

Cybercrime threat actors have become accustomed to new operation behaviours, such as the public shifting to e-commerce and online banking transactions throughout the pandemic. 

 

An analyst said that the spike in computer misuse and fraud incidents is a surprising matter. Cybercrime takes a toll on its victims, and if it is seen from other forms of criminal activities, it would be on news headlines. 

During the pandemic, most forms of crimes have decreased in the UK. However, it is not the same for cybercrime and online fraud, and it has otherwise intensified. 

The 161% increase in unauthorised access to confidential data can also indicate that threat actors have furthered their focus on stealing sensitive data as a way to create profit. Cybercriminals have been seen selling stolen sensitive data of important people or large organisations in the black market or the dark web. Data theft has been a profitable business for cybercriminals during the pandemic. 

TCSEW’s survey reports are claimed to provide better insight regarding computer misuse offences that are not raised to authorities, according to the ONS. Nonetheless, a few experts disapproved of its accuracy, considering that a minority of individuals only reported the incidents highlighted in the survey.