Cyber crimes soar nearly 90% in just a year, yet many go unsolved, investigation finds

A ‘tidal wave’ of cyber crime is going unreported in Britain, with many crimes that are reported remaining unsolved, a newspaper investigation has revealed.

A freedom of information request to UK police forces by the i newspaper and Johnston Press Investigations showed the number of cyber crimes rose almost 90% in the space of a year.

Data from 30 forces showed from 2015/16 to 2016/17 the number of cyber crimes soared from 21,307 to 39,339 – an increase of 86% – with offences ranging from fraudsters preying on people using online dating sites to offences committed by primary school children.

However, the data showed that on average police forces were spending just 1% of their budget on combating cyber crime, and the majority of reported online crimes were not being solved.

While forces reported receiving 40,000 reports of cyber crimes in the last financial year, recent crime statistics indicate a far larger number of offences, the i said.

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Dr Tim Owen, director of the cyber crime research unit at University of Central Lancashire, told the i: “We see the internet as the fastest growing place for crime and deviance today.

“Even though there is a lot of work going on to tackle cyber crime, some cyber criminals are so skilful, you need running shoes to keep up with them.”

(Top picture: Getty)