Online banking fraud has doubled since 2011, claim Cambridge University security researchers

Governments need to do more to combat online fraud, researchers argue

Online banking fraud has doubled since 2011, according to a new study conducted by a group of Cambridge University cybersecurity researchers.

Writing under Light Blue Touchpaper and led by Professor Ross Anderson, the research examines the growth and costs of online crime, which back in 2012 was estimated as half of all crime. The findings will be presented next week at the 2019 Workshop on the Economics of Information Security.

According to the researchers, the overall pattern of cybercrime has not changed much since 2012, although the technology has become much more advanced over the past seven years.

About 50 per cent of all property crimes, by value and by volume, happening across the world are now carried out using computer and internet. In 2012, it was hypothesised that this might be the case, but now the fact has been established through several victim studies.

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In the UK, online banking fraud more than doubled in cost since 2011, from £51.1 million to £121.4 million in 2017, according to the official figures. In 2012, the researchers had estimated that amount to be around £24 million, but the updated data suggests that this figure was actually much higher.

The study also observed an increase in the value of phone banking fraud, which was up from £22.2 million in 2011 to £28.4 million in 2017.

The researchers also observed that the infrastructure supporting online fraud, such as botnets, has continued to evolve in recent years.

Similarly, people conducting premium-rate phone scams have honed their skills to develop more advanced versions of scams.

Advanced versions of ransomware have been developed in the past years which, if not stopped, could cause serious damages to critical infrastructure across the world.

Offences relating to cryptocurrencies, travel fraud, business email compromise and authorised push-payment frauds are among the areas that continue to grow.

However, online intellectual property infringement is now down compared to 2012, the researchers claim.

The 2019 study also points out that governments need to take more steps to prosecute criminals operating cybercrime infrastructure, in order to prevent them from stealing the hard-earned money of innocent people.

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