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Get your free copy02 February 2017, 06:11 AM
- More than half (53 per cent) of retail fraud is now cyber-enabled, new data from The British Retail Consortium's Retail Crime Survey
The findings show that retailers lose £100m to online fraud a year and that cyber criminals are resorting to elaborate scams such as phishing, consumer data theft and a host of other methods when targeting retailers.
The report also reveals that the overall number of retail crimes has risen to 3.6m, with the direct financial cost to the industry reaching £660m in 2015-16.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC said, “These figures reflect a deeply concerning trend. A significant aspect of the cyber security challenge for retailers is the attractiveness of customer data from the point of view of criminals, many of whom operate outside UK borders but can nevertheless gain relatively easy access to UK digital networks.
“Retailers are doing everything possible to ensure that staff members and customers are safe and protected. But this rising tide should be stemmed through even stronger cooperation between industry, the government, law enforcement and the private security industry. There is work to do to further improve collaboration between the UK retail industry and its partners, and raise standards of security and policing of these threats across the country.”
