Nearly £80 million will be lost to online fraud and scams over the 12 days of Christmas, according to Labour. Analysis by the party of national fraud and cyber crime statistics found that about £76 million could be lost over the 12-day festive period.
It comes as Labour criticised the delay in the parliamentary progress of the Online Safety Bill, accusing the Government of letting fraudsters and criminals off the hook. The party pointed to analysis of police force data, which found that on average there were 312 incidents of online fraud or cyber crime per day in 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 – with the amount lost to fraud equivalent to £6 million per day.
Labour said the original Online Safety Bill, which is still moving through Parliament after being hit by delays and amendments, included no reference to fraud or scams at all. Overall, the proposed legislation aims to strengthen protections for children from harmful online content and curtail content promoting self-harm and hate speech online.
