FOI 0642-2023/24- Fraudulently spoofed numbers
Request:
Clarification
Please find the list of keywords we would like you to search into below:
-Spoof
-Spoofing
-Phishing
- Phone scam
- Email scam
Original request
Q1. How many reports you have received of people having their phone numbers fraudulently spoofed by companies in the past three years?
Q2. How many reports you have had of people receiving cold calls from spoofed numbers in the past three years?
Q3. How many of these reports have been investigated?
Q4. How many have resulted in a conviction?
Q5. How many reports you have received of people having their emails fraudulently spoofed by companies in the past three years?
Q6. How many reports you have had of people receiving email messages with forged sender addresses in the past three years?
Q7. How many of these reports have been investigated?
Q8. How many have resulted in a conviction?
Response:
Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information
To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police.
I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by North Yorkshire Police.
Decision
I have today decided to disclose the located information to you.
Q1, Q2, Q5 & Q6 Please see the table below in relation to crimes reported to North Yorkshire Police where a keyword search has been carried out with the following terms ‘phishing’ ‘spoofing’ ‘spoof’ ‘email scam’and ‘phone scam’ via email or phone, broken down by year.
|
Type |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
Total |
|
Phone |
13 |
6 |
2 |
3 |
24 |
|
|
6 |
5 |
8 |
6 |
25 |
|
Other |
2 |
2 |
1 |
Nil |
5 |
|
Total |
21 |
13 |
11 |
9 |
54 |
Q3 & Q7 . Please see the table below in relation to crimes reported to North Yorkshire Police where a keyword search has been carried out with the following terms ‘phishing’ ‘spoofing’ ‘spoof’ ‘email scam’and ‘phone scam’ via email or phone, broken down by year and outcome.
|
Outcome |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
Total |
|
14-Evidential difficulties victim based – suspect not identified |
- |
- |
1 |
- |
1 |
|
15-Evidential difficulties prevent further action; victim supports police action |
- |
1 |
- |
- |
2 |
|
18-Investigation complete - no suspect identified |
- |
- |
- |
2 |
2 |
|
Not recorded |
20 |
13 |
10 |
7 |
50 |
|
Total |
20 |
14 |
11 |
9 |
54 |
Q4 & Q8. Zero
Please note, not all fraud reported to police is investigated by them, this is because when a member of the public contact their local force to report fraud, they are given the contact details for Action Fraud (telephone and web address) and asked to redirect their report to them, unless one of 3 (call for service) criteria are met:
- A locally identified offender
- A crime in action
- A vulnerable victim making the report
Where this criteria is met, the force will record a crime and in the first instance start to investigate. These cases are still notified to Action Fraud and state that the force is dealing with the matter, in order that it can be recorded.
Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data. It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.