Online fraud victims ‘too embarrassed to call police’

THERE are two million cases of online fraud each year – but just one in five are reported to the police.

Victims are sometimes too embarrassed to make a complaint, a House of Commons inquiry has warned.

MPs including Birmingham MP Shabana Mahmood (Lab Ladywood) said banks must do more to protect customers.

That includes improving the way they work together and share information, in order to fight fraudsters.

Ms Mahmood is a member of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, which conducted an inquiry into a problem which costs £10 billion a year in the UK.

In a new report, the Committee said: “The crime is indiscriminate, is growing rapidly and shows no signs of slowing down.

“Urgent action from government is needed, yet the Home Office’s response has been too slow and the banks are unwilling to share information about the extent of fraud with customers.”

And they warned: “The main reasons fraud is not reported to the police are because people are too embarrassed, report their loss to the bank and do not take it further, have difficulties in making a report, or simply do not report it because they think nothing will happen.”

Common types of online fraud include “card not present” crimes, where criminals make a purchase using the details on a bank or credit card, including the “cvv” number on the bank, without needing the card itself. There are believed to be 1.4 million incidents of this each year.

Other problems include “authorised push payments”, where customers are conned into asking their bank to move money.