Government backs new e-crime bill
The Government has said that the Serious Crime Bill will be sufficient to tackle e-crime, which cost UK Internet users more than £3bn last year.
The Government has said that the Serious Crime Bill will be sufficient to tackle e-crime, which cost UK Internet users more than £3bn last year.
Home Office minister Vernon Coaker told the e-crime Congress last week that the Government will react to fast-moving technology and introduce new legislation if necessary.
The Government wants a modern legislative framework, he said. Where there is a need to revise legislation we are committed to ensuring criminal law is fit for purpose. With the Serious Crime Bill we believe current law will be.
Since the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit was disbanded last April, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) has handled major e-crime investigations. Smaller e-crime cases are now handled by individual forces.
E-crime is an increasingly serious problem. Figures published this week by campaign awareness group Get Safe Online show that 12 per cent of UK Internet users some 3.5 million people were victims of online fraud last year. Each attack cost an average of £875, a total of more than £3bn.
There is also evidence that in the absence of a national e-crime unit, devolved governments within the UK are tackling the problem unilaterally.
The Welsh Assemblys decision earlier this month to establish its own e-crime unit is a case in point. This is in the wake of a report by the Met stating that a new national e-crime unit should be established.
Simon Lavin, planning and development manager of the new e-crime unit in Wales said: Well see how we fit with the proposed Met unit when it is set up, but it was a question of taking a lead on this here and now in Wales.
Detective chief superintendent Chris Corcoran of North Wales Police, chairman of the E-crime Steering Group also commented:
Recording of e-crime is a bit hit and miss, he said.
Every force does things differently so we cannot compare like for like. We want to educate businesses about where to report e-crime so that we can establish some facts as to the extent of it.
The unit will be funded for three-years by the Welsh Assembly. It will liaise upwards, with contact routes into the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) in London and the Metropolitan Police e-crime unit, as well as with the Welsh Assembly itself.
