Security - Aug 10, 2022

The UK Counties Most Impacted By Fraud And Cybercrime In 2022

Data has revealed the UK counties most impacted by fraud and cybercrime.

Using crime figures provided by regional police forces, experts at information security firm Hicomply found that 178,689 total fraud and computer misuse crimes were reported between January 1st and June 30th 2022. UK residents lost a reported £1.7billion.

Of those, 16,148 (9%) reports were classified as cyber-dependent crime, which encompasses social media and email hacking, server hacking, personal hacking, computer viruses, malware, spyware and more.

Experts looked at:

The number of fraud and computer misuse offences, including cybercrime, recorded by police forces
The fraud and computer misuse offence rate per 1,000 population
The number of cybercrime offences
Total offences recorded by regional police forces
The percentage of fraud and computer misuse offences per total recorded offences.
The percentage of cybercrimes per total recorded offences.

To find the areas most impacted. View the infographics below or read on to discover the areas most and least impacted by fraud and cybercrime in 2022.

Which areas had the most prolific fraud and cybercrime?

The UK Areas Most Impacted by Fraud and Cybercrime in 2022

Using the data gathered from the ONS report and the NFIB Fraud and Cyber Crime dashboard, we calculated each area's fraud and cyber crime score based on: the percentage of fraud offences vs total offences in the area; the percentage of cybercrime offences vs total offences in the area; the fraud and computer misuse incident rate per 1,000 population, scoring areas out of 10. The top 5 areas were:

Dorset (9.2/10)
Hertfordshire (9.1/10)
Surrey (8.4/10)
Greater London (8.2/10)
Wiltshire (8.1/10)

Which areas had the least prolific fraud and cybercrime?

The UK Areas Least Impacted by Fraud and Cybercrime in 2022

The areas with the lowest scores included:

Isle of Man (0.2/10 - with zero cybercrime reports in 2022)
Scotland (0.3/10)*
The regions covered by Northumbria Police, and Cleveland (both 0.7/10)
Merseyside (1.4/10)
West Yorkshire (1.4/10).

*Police Scotland provides total figures in ONS reports without breaking down by council area.

Which areas saw the most fraud and computer misuse offences?

In police data, cybercrime offences fit within the fraud and computer misuse category. Hicomply looked at areas with the highest percentage of fraud and computer misuse reports vs total crime reports, revealing that the category made up just over 10% of reports in Dorset.

Surrey and Wiltshire weren’t far behind, with fraud and computer misuse making up 9.3% of overall reports. They were followed by Hertfordshire and Dwyfed-Powys Police (which covers Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire, and Powys) with 8.8% and 8.7% respectively. North Yorkshire, Thames Valley, Devon & Cornwall, Staffordshire, and Sussex rounded out the top ten.

Regions with highest percentage of fraud and computer misuse offences

Police force	Total reported offences	Fraud and computer misuse offences	Percentage of fraud and computer misuse offences
Dorset	26,730	2,700	10.10
Surrey	38,534	3,600	9.34
Wiltshire	20,364	1,900	9.33
Hertfordshire	40,732	3,600	8.84
Dwyfed-Powys	21,878	1,900	8.68
North Yorkshire	24,598	2,100	8.54
Thames Valley	90,390	6,900	7.63
Devon & Cornwall	51,728	3,900	7.54
Staffordshire	34,960	2,600	7.44
Sussex	62,108	4,600	7.41

Numbers showed, unsurprisingly, that Greater London had the highest number of fraud and computer misuse reports overall, at 32,800. The region was followed by the West Midlands at 7,000, Thames Valley at 6,900, Greater Manchester at 6,200 and West Yorkshire at 5,800.

Regions with the most fraud and computer misuse reports

Police force	Total reported offences	Fraud and computer misuse offences
London Metropolitan	451,436	32,800
West Midlands	184,598	7,000
Thames Valley	90,390	6,900
Greater Manchester	178,036	6,200
West Yorkshire	154,648	5,800
Kent	90,510	5,100
Hampshire	91,863	4,900
Essex	86,670	4,700
Sussex	62,108	4,600
Avon & Somerset	71,964	4,300

Guernsey saw the lowest number of reports, with only 31.

Data also revealed areas with the highest fraud and computer misuse offences per 1000 population. Unexpectedly, Dwyfed-Powys Police saw the highest rate here, with 8 incidents per 1000 population.

Police force	Number of incidents per 1000 population
Dwyfed-Powys	8
Dorset	7
Hertfordshire	7
London Metropolitan	7
Norfolk	7
Bedfordshire	6
Cambridgeshire	6
Cheshire	6
Kent	6
Lincolnshire	6

Which regions saw the lowest levels of fraud and computer misuse offences?

Scotland saw the lowest percentage of fraud and computer misuse offences as a region, with only 1.55% of reported offences falling into this category, followed by the Isle of Man, Cleveland, Guernsey, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Northumbria, West Yorkshire, West Midlands, and South Yorkshire.

Areas with smaller populations like Guernsey, which has a population of 63,463, and the Isle of Man, which has a population of 85,973, also naturally saw fewer fraud and computer misuse offences reported and these reports made up a low proportion of overall crime, at 2.69% and 2.92% respectively.

Police force	Total reported offences	Fraud and computer misuse offences	Percentage of fraud and computer misuse offences
Scotland	231,662	3,600	1.55
Isle of Man	1,527	41	2.69
Cleveland	36,604	1,000	2.73
Guernsey	1,061	31	2.92
Greater Manchester	178,036	6,200	3.48
Merseyside	86,908	3,100	3.57
Northumbria	72,462	2,600	3.59
West Yorkshire	154,648	5,800	3.75
West Midlands	184,598	7,000	3.79
South Yorkshire	78,996	3,000	3.80

Which areas saw the highest levels of cybercrime?

For cyber-specific crimes, Surrey came out top of the list, with 0.93% of all reported offences being cybercrime incidents. The region saw 358 cybercrime incidents and 3600 fraud and computer misuse offences overall.

The list of top five most impacted areas was rounded out by Hertfordshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, and Sussex.

Regions with the highest percentage of cybercrime

Region	Fraud and computer misuse offences	Cybercrime offences	Total reported offences	Cybercrime %
Surrey	3,600	358	38,534	0.93
Hertfordshire	3,600	348	40,732	0.85
Dorset	2,700	210	26,730	0.79
Wiltshire	1,900	154	20,364	0.76
Sussex	4,600	435	62,108	0.70
North Yorkshire	2,100	170	24,598	0.69
Thames Valley	6,900	600	90,390	0.66
Staffordshire	2,600	232	34,960	0.66
Devon & Cornwall	3,900	342	51,728	0.66
Warwickshire	1,400	136	20,940	0.65

Interestingly, the four regions with the highest levels of fraud reports also saw the highest levels of cybercrime:

Regions with highest percentages of fraud and cybercrime reports

Police force	Total reported offences	Fraud and computer misuse offences	Fraud and computer misuse offences %	Cybercrime %
Dorset	26,730	2,700	10.10	0.79
Surrey	38,534	3,600	9.34	0.93
Wiltshire	20,364	1,900	9.33	0.76
Hertfordshire	40,732	3,600	8.84	0.85

Meanwhile, the Isle of Man saw zero cybercrime incidents, and Scotland saw only 0.06%: with 131 cybercrime incidents and 3600 fraud and computer misuse offences. This was followed by Jersey, Cleveland, and Northern Ireland.

Regions with the lowest levels of cybercrime

Region	Fraud and computer misuse offences	Cybercrime offences	Total reported offences	Cybercrime %
Isle of Man	41	0	1,527	0
Scotland	3,600	131	231,662	0.06
Jersey	70	3	1,528	0.20
Cleveland	1,000	102	36,604	0.28
Northern Ireland	2,600	187	53,310	0.33
West Yorkshire	5,800	536	154,648	0.35
Merseyside	3,100	308	86,908	0.35
Northumbria	2,600	265	72,462	0.37
South Yorkshire	3,000	298	78,996	0.38
West Midlands	7,000	704	184,598	0.38

What types of cybercrime were most common?

According to data from the NFIB Fraud and Cyber Crime Dashboard, the top five cybercrime codes were:

8,600 reports of hacking (social media and email)
3,100 reports of computer virus/malware/spyware
2,700 reports of hacking (personal)
1,800 reports of hacking (extortion)
112 reports of hacking (server)

Which areas had the most cybercrimes reported?

London saw the highest number of cybercrime reports overall, with 2,900 reports between January and June 2022. There were 2,000 fewer reports in the West Midlands, which came in second at 704, followed by Greater Manchester, Thames Valley, and Hampshire.

Region	Total reported offences	Cybercrime offences
Greater London	451,436	2900
West Midlands	184,598	704
Greater Manchester	178,036	695
Thames Valley	90,390	600
Hampshire	91,864	572
Kent	90,510	556
West Yorkshire	154,648	536
Essex	86,670	441
Sussex	62,108	435
Avon & Somerset	71,964	408

Which areas had the fewest cybercrimes reported?

The Isle of Man saw zero cybercrime offences in the first half of 2022, and 1527 total reported offences.

Next to follow was Jersey, with three cybercrime reports, Guernsey with four, then Cleveland with 102 and Cumbria with 112. Find the 10 police forces that recorded the fewest cybercrimes below:

Police force	Total reported offences	Cybercrime offences
Isle of Man	1,527	0
Jersey	1,528	3
Guernsey	1,061	4
Cleveland	36,604	102
Cumbria	19,738	112
Gwent	29,862	121
Dwyfed-Powys	21,878	125
Scotland	231,662	131
Durham	30,770	134
Gloucestershire	27,668	135

How does 2022 compare to previous years?

Data shows that between April 2021 and March 2022, reported incidents of fraud and computer misuse actually decreased in every region in England and Wales compared to the previous year. The region with the biggest change from the previous year was Somerset & Avon, which saw an 81% decrease in reports, followed by Greater London (-33%), Gloucestershire (-23%), Warwickshire (-23%), and North Yorkshire (-23%).

Change in reported fraud and computer misuse incidents YoY

Region	Percentage change
Avon & Somerset	-81
Greater London	-33
Gloucestershire	-23
Warwickshire	-23
North Yorkshire	-23
Durham	-22
Derbyshire	-20
Staffordshire	-19
Northumbria	-19
West Mercia	-19

*Data from PSNI was not included when reviewing data for this table. PSNI groups fraud and computer misuse incidents within online crime, which includes crimes outside of the scope of this report.

This drastic difference in reports of fraud and computer misuse between early 2021 and 2022 may be in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In July 2020, Action Fraud reported that a total of £11,316,266 had been reported lost by 2,866 victims of coronavirus-related scams. The organisation received 13,820 reports of coronavirus-related phishing emails, and it also shared that the majority of reports received were related to online shopping scams where victims ordered protective products such as face masks and hand sanitiser, which never arrived.

How can we prevent cybercrime?

Marius van Aswegen, Chief Operations Officer at Hicomply, said: “One of the most obvious ways we can stop successful cybercrime attempts is by recognising the signs of an attack. The data shows that hacking is one of the most common cybercrimes we face in the UK.

“Phishing, which is a method of tricking the target into revealing sensitive or personal information, is one method cybercriminals use to maliciously gain access to data. Make sure to learn the signs to look out for so you can identify fake emails and text messages. For organisations, it’s important to invest in regular staff training and awareness.”

Signs a message or email may not be legitimate include:

The message comes from email address or mobile number that doesn’t match that of the real sender. E.g. A Gmail address is used to send you an email about your bank account
The message includes spelling or grammatical errors
There is an urgent call to action with ‘serious’ consequences if you don’t act immediately
You are asked to click on a link that doesn’t match the domain of the real organisation or sender.

Think you could recognise fraudulent activity? Put your knowledge to the test in our quiz: Can You Spot a Scam?

Sources –