UK a hotbed of cybercriminal activity

The cost of global e-crime surged to a record $240m (£122m) last year, with the UK ranking number two in the world for its number of cybercriminals.

The 2007 Internet Crime Report from online reporting body the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reveals that the UK ranks second globally behind the US for the number of perpetrators of e-crime — accounting for 15.3 percent of the global total — and third for victims, with 1.1 percent of the total.

The report reveals a $40m jump in the cost of international e-crime over 2006, stemming from a total of 206,884 complaints to IC3.

IC3 is a joint operation between the FBI and the US's National White Collar Crime Center. The organisation takes international complaints about cybercrime, mainly originating from the US.

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FBI Cyber Division assistant director James E Finch said in a statement: "What this report does not show is how often this type of activity goes unreported. Filing a complaint through IC3 is the best way to alert law-enforcement authorities of internet crime."

The most commonly reported crime was auction fraud, but non-delivery of purchases, credit/debit-card fraud, computer intrusions, spam or unsolicited email, and child pornography were also included.