WEEKLY COLUMN by Stroud MP Siobhan Baillie 

I HAVE been working on several cybercrime cases for local people including so-called ‘sweetheart’ cases where fraudsters target lonely and vulnerable people, firstly by friendship then protestations of love before asking for money for a variety of reasons like a lost phone or help for a family member.

Many people lose huge sums over many years and few report the crime because of embarrassment.

You might say: ‘how could someone fall for it’ but these scammers are very good at what they do. Those who fall prey are victims and should be treated with sympathy so they come forward more.

Cybercrime remains a serious problem across the country. Figures from Action fraud for 2023 found a total of 240,067 cybercrime reports were made - the vast majority from the public, not companies.

The cost of cybercrime was £1.2 billion just for the public and a further £395 million for business.

The amazing thing is most experts agree these figures are nowhere near the full picture. The fact is so many of these types of crime go unreported because the victims are embarrassed. The government has recognised fraud is a problem and this week launched the ‘Stop! Think Fraud’ campaign to tackle all types of this crime.

The idea is to deliver tough new anti-fraud messaging and raise public awareness of fraud safety advice all in partnership with the police, tech, banking, telecoms and charities.

The initiative is part of the 2023 Fraud Strategy. Since then, fraud and computer misuse has fallen by 13 per cent according to the latest data from the Crime Survey of England and Wales.

I think tech companies and Ofcom are going to need to move fast on requiring verification ID to allow people to truly take control of who they are dealing with on social media. I’m pushing for this after Clean up the Internet and I won our campaign with the Online Safety Act.

The government has set up a website with help and advice on how to combat fraud in all its forms for the public and businesses.

The link is stopthinkfraud.campaign.gov.uk