11758 Phishing Scams
I write in connection with your request for information dated 17th February 2020 and received by this office on 18th February 2020. Below are the questions raised in your request and our response.
I would like to request data from the last two years, 2018 and 2019 - for the time period 01/01 -
31/12.
I would like all incidents/recorded crimes that fall under 'phishing', in particular, those that are related to email phishing, or email scams. If you could supply me with reports of these and the status of each report, whether it was taken forward or not.
I would also like the details of the reports, for example, and if applicable, this could include the amount of money stolen, what was asked for, and the age of the victim.
Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) places two duties on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at Section 1 (1) (a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held. The second duty at Sec 1(1) (b) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held. Where exemptions are relied upon s17 of FOIA requires that we provide the applicant with a notice which: a) states that fact b) specifies the exemption(s) in question and c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.
Having made enquiries within the force regarding your request we have been advised that there is no specific offence of phishing – this is a/the method by which offenders commit another offence such as a computer misuse offence or a fraud / theft. As such it would not be classified as a crime on its own – it would need to be linked to a relevant offence of which there are/may be many variations
Most offences that are reported of this type would be reported direct to Action Fraud and crimed by them as per national guidance. Action Fraud would then disseminate them to the Force for investigation if they deemed it necessary. We receive 200+ disseminations a month.
As Action Fraud do not classify phishing as an offence type, a member of staff would need to read the MO’s for each of the 200+ crimes a month to see if phishing was involved. It may also form part of other offences which Cleveland may have recorded as a crime,
Given the number of potential crimes/reports that would need manually checking to ascertain if they are pertinent to your request it is estimated that this would take in excess of the appropriate time stipulated by the Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, Lord Falconer on the 18th Of October 2004, that is, eighteen hours. This falls under the exemption of 'Compliance exceeding the appropriate limit' covered by Section 12 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and as such this work could not be undertaken.
Therefore, please treat this as a refusal notice under S17 of the Freedom of Information Act.
In accordance with Section 16 of the Act we have a duty to provide advice and assistance however on this occasion we can only suggest that Action Fraud may hold some of the information.
Please note any statistical data that may be supplied in relation to Freedom of Information requests is a snapshot of data held at the time the request was received by the Freedom of Information office and is subject to constant change/updates.
The Cleveland Police response to your request is unique and it should be noted that Police Forces do not use generic systems or identical procedures to capture and record data therefore responses from Cleveland Police should not be used as a comparison with any other force response you receive.
If you are not satisfied with this response or any actions taken in dealing with your request you have the right to request an independent internal review of your case under our review procedure. The APP College of Policing guidance states that a request for internal review should be made within 20 working days of the date on this response or 40 working days if extenuating circumstances to account for the delay can be evidenced.
If we can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact this office.