Herts residents urged to report cases of fraud and cyber crime as figures are revealed to councillors

DEPUTY Police and Crime Commissioner Cllr Lewis Cocking has appealed to Hertfordshire residents to report suspicious emails or text messages – as levels of fraud and cyber crime in the county were revealed to councillors.

Speaking at a meeting of the county council’s public health and community safety cabinet panel on Friday (June 30), Cllr Cocking revealed that more than half of all crimes reported in the county now occur in the home or online.

Already more than £2.5m of funds lost through fraud and cyber crime in Hertfordshire have been recovered, he said, by the Beacon Fraud Hub.

But the scale of the problem, suggested Cllr Cocking, was not fully known – because so many people fail to come forward.

And he urged anyone who falls victim to fraud or cyber crime to report it – even anonymously.

“It is becoming an increasingly big problem,” said Cllr Cocking.

“If we look at how crime has changed, more than 50 per cent of crime in Hertfordshire is either in someone’s own home or online.

“It is increasing and it is really difficult to quantify because people don’t come forward and report it.

“I urge everyone who has fallen victim to fraud and cyber crime, please report it – even if you report it anonymously around what has happened to you and how much you have lost.”

Cllr Cocking stresses the difficulty in estimating how much had been lost to fraud and cyber crime – but he suggests it is significantly more than the amount recovered.

“I suspect that the £2.5 m we have got back is a small drop in the ocean, in terms of what’s actually out there,” he said.

“It is incredibly difficult to quantify because people just don’t come forward.”

Information sessions are already held across the county, in a bid to show residents what they can do to avoid falling victim to fraud and cyber crime.

But Cllr Cocking acknowledges that those trying to commit these crimes are often very intelligent and the materials produced look ‘very real’.

At the meeting the county council’s executive member for community safety and public health Cllr Morris Bright echoed the need for residents to report these crimes.

He suggested that ‘personal embarrassment’ may prevent some from reporting cyber crime.

And referencing the 50 per cent of crime that occurs at home or online, he said it was important to make sure that ‘we get people to report – and find safe ways to report – crimes, as much as we can’.

Cllr Cocking highlighted fraud and cyber crime as part of a presentation on the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s annual report 2022/23.

Also highlighted by Cllr Cocking was the increase in police officers – with the Constabulary exceeding the target of reaching 2381 officers by 34. This, said Cllr Cocking is 338 more officers, compared to 2019.

He referenced a project to enhance underpasses in Hatfield town centre, as part of a drive for safer streets and against violence against women and girls.

And he highlighted sessions by a county lines trainer in Broxbourne schools – suggesting they were looking at how to roll out to all schools every child in Hertfordshire and reach children every year of their school life.

Cllr Cocking also pointed to ongoing work to make the force ‘greener’ – highlighting plans for £3million investment in the constabulary’s fleet.

“We have been doing lots of work around reducing our carbon footprint and begun investing £3m in our fleet replacement, to try an cut down our CO2 emissions,” he said.

“Some of the technology is not quite there yet. When we look at some of our cars that have to be high performance cars, the technology isn’t quite there yet to get those CO2 emissions down.”

However Cllr Cocking said they were investing where they could ‘to make ourselves a green force’.

• DURING the meeting reference was made to the number of different pictures of Police and Crime Commissioner David Lloyd that appeared in the annual report.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Sandy Walkington noted 17 different photographs in the 64-page report.

And he said: “I would just observe that maybe one could delete some of those and save some money – or put some information in.

“The front cover is an absolute hoot and it’s ‘caption competition’ worthy.”

But Conservative Cllr Morris Bright, executive member for community safety and public health, defended the commissioner’s approach.

“I think it’s slightly tongue in cheek to say too many pictures,” he said.

“[…] if he’s a police commissioner doing some work, then he should be able to be seen doing that. A picture speaks a 1000 words.”