We are committed to tackling all types of fraud regardless of whether they are committed on- or offline. The Fraud Act 2006 contains a range of offences that can be used to prosecute fraudsters who are suspected of phishing. Sections 6 and 7 of the Act, for example, criminalise the possession, making and supply of articles for the use in fraud which could include computer software programme used to create phishing websites.

Although we hold data on the total number of prosecutions and convictions for offences under the the Fraud Act 2006, we cannot separately identify what proportion of these cases specifically relate to phishing scams.

The Home Office doesn’t hold data centrally on the number of cases of phishing.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The Government is committed to recovering the proceeds of all crimes – there is a commitment in the 2013 Serious and Organised Crime Strategy to pursue criminal finances by making it harder to move, hide and use the proceeds of crime. We are taking forward this commitment by bringing forward improved asset recovery provisions in the Serious Crime Bill, which is currently before Parliament, and we are working with operational partners to ensure that the use of existing asset recovery powers is considered at the outset of all appropriate investigations.

The need to tackle cyber crime was identified as a key objective of the Government’s Cyber Security Strategy, which is underpinned by £860 million of funding over five years through the National Cyber Security Programme (NCSP). Around 10% of this has been invested in improving the capabilities of law enforcement agencies to respond to cyber crime.

The National Cyber Crime Unit in the National Crime Agency is responsible for tackling some of the most serious cases of malware - which is often delivered using phishing techniques and which is responsible for infecting computers and stealing banking and other information. This work was undertaken in conjunction with their international
partners, to tackle those cyber criminals operating internationally, as well as the cyber teams that have been built in the network of Regional Organised Crime Units throughout England and Wales, also using NCSP funding.

The Government is committed to supporting the public and industry to better protect themselves from this type of criminality. The NCSP also funds the Cyber Streetwise awareness campaign, which encourages the public and Small and Medium Enterprises to adopt safer online behaviour. Phase 2 of the campaign launched in October 2014, including a refreshed website with further advice and support. Cyberstreetwise.com has had over 170,000 page views on the updated website since October – this is nearly three times higher than at the same time of phase one.

The Government also funds Action Fraud, run by the City of London Police, which is the central reporting point for fraud and financially-motivated cyber crime. This service also provides information on the latest fraud threats, including phishing emails, and individuals can sign up to be alerted when new threats emerge. In December last year, the Government published a set of Guiding Principles with Internet Service Providers which agreed minimum standards for supporting their customers to stay safe online.

The need to tackle cyber crime was identified as a key objective of the Government’s Cyber Security Strategy, which is underpinned by £860 million of funding over five years through the National Cyber Security Programme (NCSP). Around 10% of this has been invested in improving the capabilities of law enforcement agencies to respond to cyber crime.

The National Cyber Crime Unit in the National Crime Agency is responsible for tackling some of the most serious cases of malware - which is often delivered using phishing techniques and which is responsible for infecting computers and stealing banking and other information. This work was undertaken in conjunction with their international
partners, to tackle those cyber criminals operating internationally, as well as the cyber teams that have been built in the network of Regional Organised Crime Units throughout England and Wales, also using NCSP funding.

The Government is committed to supporting the public and industry to better protect themselves from this type of criminality. The NCSP also funds the Cyber Streetwise awareness campaign, which encourages the public and Small and Medium Enterprises to adopt safer online behaviour. Phase 2 of the campaign launched in October 2014, including a refreshed website with further advice and support. Cyberstreetwise.com has had over 170,000 page views on the updated website since October – this is nearly three times higher than at the same time of phase one.

The Government also funds Action Fraud, run by the City of London Police, which is the central reporting point for fraud and financially-motivated cyber crime. This service also provides information on the latest fraud threats, including phishing emails, and individuals can sign up to be alerted when new threats emerge. In December last year, the Government published a set of Guiding Principles with Internet Service Providers which agreed minimum standards for supporting their customers to stay safe online.

HMRC has over 100 electronic contact services available to customers that offer a structured and secure means of communicating with HMRC through its website and we are looking at doing even more.

In the autumn statement HMRC announced it will allow small business customers to access their tax accounts, transact and interact with HMRC using secure digital channels. HMRC is designing the service in such a way that the majority of customers’ needs can be met easily, quickly and simply without recourse to costly communication channels. As such HMRC has completed a ‘use of email’ pilot with Large and Complex customers (ie those with £30 million+ turnover or 250+ staff) using existing HMRC technology and capability which proved very successful. Email is now being used in our day to day processes with these types of customers and the fully redesigned service will go live in April 14.

HMRC is also developing an eMail Strategy and it is anticipated that this will be delivered during 2013-14 with a supporting implementation plan to integrate eMail use into HMRC for its customers.