Get Safe Online and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau have released fraud and cybercrime figures for 2016.

These show that £10.9 billion was lost to the UK economy as a result of fraud in 2016. This figure rises every year.

The estimate for the average cost for each person defrauded is around £520, but in some cases it is very large sums of money.

The figures show that 39% of people defrauded do not report the crime so the official fraud figures are lower than the reality.

The report also shows that many people do not follow basic security e.g. updating their anti-virus software regularly, using different passwords for separate accounts, being careful with the information they post on social media, only using secure Wi-Fi , deleting email from unknown sources etc.

We all need to take more care over basic online security.

There is a summary of the report at

https://www.getsafeonline.org/news/fraud-cybercrime-cost-uk-nearly-11bn-in-past-year/

If you’ve enjoyed this post or found it useful then do share – click on the post title then scroll down to the social media share buttons.

(the guy in the photo looks a bit like Reddington in The Blacklist but I don’t think it’s him)

There’s a very useful article on privacy at www.cloudwards.net/online-privacy-guide/