Age UK has revealed that cybercriminals have been targeting older people, which has resulted in £100,000 stolen from older residents in Lancaster. A Freedom of Information requests filed to Action Fraud, the nations primary fraud reporting agency, found that Lancashire Constabulary filed 80 reports of cybercrime from April 2018 to March 2019 from residents age 55 and older. These cybercrime cases have resulted in £100,343 being stolen during this time.
Between March 23, 2020, and July 31, 2020, there were 3,162 COVID-19 related cybercrime and fraud reports file to Action Fraud. 701 of these reports were made by victims aged 55 and over, which results in £2.4 million lost. In order to raise awareness surrounding this problem and protect the ageing community, Age UK has designed an interactive map which highlights all of the cybercrime against older people which have been reported to all the regional police forces and the sum on money lost in each constabulary.
