local democracy reporter

Surrey’s police and crime commissioner wants changes to how cyber crime is tackled, after he fell victim to online fraud.

Before David Munro took up his PCC post, he lost £4,000 to a scam traced to Lagos, Nigeria, duped by a fake invoice forged to look as if it was issued by a contractor he was working with.

He believes cyber crime should be handled at a national level instead of it being the responsibility of individual forces to investigate. He says this will help provide more reassurances to victims.

He admitted to being a victim at a police and crime meeting last week, later adding: “I believe the approach we have got in this country is fundamentally wrong.”

At present, local police forces such as Surrey Police deal with cyber crime and fraud and there is a national system for dealing with larger and more serious cases of fraud.

But Mr Munro says “provincial police forces do not have the resources” to go after scammers.

“If it was standard procedure that all fraud was handled nationally they may have a database. Cyber fraud is increasing month by month and it would take a huge amount of extra resources to make a real difference.”

He said changing the approach would “make it much easier and give victims the reassurance” they need.

A report by Surrey Police on cyber crime and fraud in May this year show there were 3.4 million incidents of fraud nationally in 2016/17 but fewer than 20% of crimes were actually reported.

Data in the report from the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) reveals that in Surrey fraud cases increased by 13% from 5,441 in 2017 to 6,183 in 2018. The national increase was 11%.

Financial losses in Surrey between April to September 2018 was recorded as £22.5 million compared to £14.5m the same period in 2017.

Cyber crime cases increased by 33% between April to September in 2018 compared to 2017. Total losses in Surrey reached £2m in 2018.

Most offences came through hacking, social media and email with the most significant victim groups identified being those aged between 50 to 59.

Mr Munro said that two years ago when he was director of a small software company, he received an invoice from a regular contractor for £12,000 via email and paid it. But his bank warned him that the account details were different. He was able to recover £8,000 but lost the £4,000.

Mr Munro said: “What I should have done, but didn’t, was check very carefully the bank account details when I paid it.”

He said the invoice had the company logo on but the money ended up in a bank account in Lagos.

He added: “I did feel annoyed and a bit embarrassed.”

My Munro was not the only member of the police and crime panel on Thursday, June 27, to admit to being a victim of cyber crime.

Panel member Cllr Josephine Hawkins, borough councillor for Surrey Heath, said she too had been a victim and when she was talking to residents while canvassing, many people didn’t know where to turn for help if they too had been a victim.

Mr Munro urged everyone to take “obvious common sense” action such as double-checking invoices and not opening email attachments if they do not look right.

Surrey Police run a joint cyber crime unit with Sussex described as a “small team” which recruited an extra detective constable and cyber protection officer recently.

For more information from Surrey Police about cyber crime visit https://www.surrey.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/fa/fraud/online-fraud2/cyber-crime-fraud/

Or call the Action Fraud line on 0300 123 2040.