1m scams reported in two months in the UK

A leading service designed to help the British public report what they believe may be scam emails has confirmed that it has accepted 1m reports in its mere two months of existence.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said that it had received the reports since it set up its new Suspicious Email Reporting Service through the government’s Cyber Aware campaign.

On a daily basis, the service receives an average of just over 16,000 email reports.

It also confirmed that over half of all of the scam links taken down as a result of the reporting service pertained to scam crypto schemes.

It was also revealed that a tenth of the scams reported were taken down within just one hour of the report being made.

Just under half, meanwhile, were taken down within one day.

Officials from the NCSC and the British government reflected on the news with pride.

Ciaran Martin, who serves as the NCSC’s chief executive officer, said that the seven-figure milestone was a “fantastic achievement”.

“Reaching the milestone of one million suspicious emails reported is a fantastic achievement and testament to the vigilance of the British public,” he said.

He added: “The kind of scams we’ve blocked could have caused very real harm and I would like to thank everyone who has played their part in helping make the internet safer for all of us.

“While it’s right that we should celebrate reaching this milestone, it is important for all of us to remain on our guard and forward any emails that don’t look right to [email protected].”

Oliver Dowden, who is the government’s Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, said: “We are committed to making the UK the safest place to be online and are working tirelessly to defeat cyber criminals.”

He added: “I urge everyone to continue reporting suspicious emails and follow our Cyber Aware campaign top tips for staying secure online alongside our world-leading National Cyber Security Centre advice.”

In its press statement, the NCSC shared more information about the crypto aspect of the story.

“An influx of cryptocurrency investment scams is among a range of online threats which have been blocked as a result of more than 1 million suspect emails being reported by the public in just two months,” it said.

“More than half of the 10,000 online links to scams blocked or taken down by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) with the help of the public relate to cryptocurrency schemes, where investors are typically promised high returns in exchange for buying currency such as Bitcoin,” it explained.

However, it also went on to outline additional non-crypto areas that had faced problems.

“While cryptocurrency scams – which cost the public millions of pounds annually – have been the main scam detected, there have also been numerous examples of fake online shops and spoofs involving brands such as TV Licensing, HMRC, Gov.uk and the DVLA,” it said.

About the author: Justin Freeman

Justin is an active trader with more than 20-years’ industry experience of working for big banks and hedge funds. He has an inside knowledge of how the financial markets work, thanks to roles including trader on a $750m Event-Arbitrage desk and CRO and COO of hedge funds running a variety of strategies. From stat-arb and trend-following CTA to fixed-income relative value. Firm’s he has worked at include big banks like Citi, and prominent hedge funds including D. E. Shaw and Millennium Capital Management.

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