Crime: Online Fraud

House of Lords written question – answered at on 22 July 2008.

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Photo of Lord Broers Lord Broers Crossbench

asked Her Majesty's Government:

For the periods (a) 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008, and (b) 1 April 2008 to date, how many complaints of online fraud by customers of financial institutions were forwarded by the financial institutions to the police.

Photo of Lord West of Spithead Lord West of Spithead Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Security and Counter-terrorism), Home Office, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office) (Security and Counter-terrorism)

In 2007-08, 23,344 cases of fraud by false representation that involved a cheque, plastic card or online bank account were recorded by the police (this includes some instances of the similar offence of cheque and credit card fraud committed under old legislation in place before 15 January 2007).

Those offences could have been referred directly by a financial institution, reported by an account holder or merchant who was not refunded moneys by their financial institution or dealt with as a direct call for service to the police where a suspect was believed to be committing a crime at the time. The offences will in some instances relate to online fraud, but there is no specific category of recorded crime to separately identify them.

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