Report calls on police to do more for cybercrime victims

Expert researchers have published a study drawing on input from hundreds of victims, many of whom chose not to tell police about crimes, or found little benefit in doing so

A new academic study has found victims of cybercrime lack faith in the police to handle incidents.

Research by the University of Strathclyde suggested that cybercrime is significantly underreported across Scotland. The report called for the police to offer more reliable services and become more involved in reimbursing money to victims.

It recommended that the force should create awareness campaigns, work to 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 did not reach the police.

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A victim who had been scammed online when trying to purchase a car, said the police “said absolutely nothing that was helpful”.

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.

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.

Dr Juraj Sikra, lead author of the research paper, said: “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 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.”