Police Scotland urged to do more for cybercrime victims

A new study by a Scottish university has shown victims of cybercrime lack faith in the police to handle incidents.

Research by the University of Strathclyde showed cybercrime is significantly underreported north of the border and experts have urged Police Scotland to better engage with victims to bridge the gap.

The study has called for the police to offer reliable services and become more involved in reimbursing money to victims of cybercrime.

It has recommended the force to create awareness campaigns, reduce the stigma associated with being a victim, and build a “deeper and more strategic alliance” with banks to reimburse lost funds.

Gathering 380 responses from victims of cybercrime, the study discovered most incidents didn’t reach the police.

Out of the more than 8,600 cases from 2019-20, only 6.6 per cent of people who experienced bank detail theft, 2.1per cent of victims who received a scam email and fewer than two per cent of those affected by a phone call scam reported the incidents to the police.

A victim who had been scammed online when trying to purchase a car, said the police “said absolutely nothing that was helpful”, and claimed the Fraud Department in Scotland did not want to record the incident as a fraud, because they believed it technically happened in England.

Last month, INTERPOL cybercrime director Neal Jetton called for a “total 360-degree strategy” to tackle the global cybercrime crisis.

Speaking at Holyrood’s International Law Enforcement in a Digital Age event in Glasgow, Jetton told delegates the rise in cybercrime cases was “staggering” and called for a “team effort” approach to keep people and the economy safe.

Dr Juraj Sikra, lead author of the research paper, said: “Solutions for cybersecurity largely rest on the shoulders of the civilian population and the private companies that supply the solutions, and citizens often don't have the knowledge of what is suitable.”

Researchers found some victims resolved the situation themselves by reporting it to their bank but many assumed their banks would report the crime themselves after having reimbursed them.

Many of those interviewed were also reluctant to report because they blamed themselves for the incidents. Researchers believe this prevalence in ‘victim-blaming’ comes as a result of a ‘responsibilisation’ approach by governments, in which citizens are given advice only on protecting themselves from cybercrime and often feel that responsibility for prevention lies solely with them, rather than jointly with the state.

Sikra added: “Police could form a more strategic alliance with banks at local level and assume more responsibility in awareness-raising campaigns. Dealing with this crime can increase the reporting of other crimes if it increases trust towards the police but cybercrime can be effectively mitigated only in a society that is socially interconnected, as it thrives where there is social isolation.

“Fighting cybercrime also presents new opportunities for international collaboration amid an increasingly fragmented geopolitical landscape. Countries which may not see eye to eye on political matters can be brought to collaborate on supranational issues affecting vulnerable populations.”