What steps it is taking to tackle internet fraud.

In 2006, total UK losses foronline banking fraud from scams such as phishing and Trojans reached £33.5 million.There were 14,156 phishing incidents in 2006, up from 1,713 in 2005. “Card Not Present”fraud, including online, phone and mail order fraud, totalled £212.6 million in2006. Data published by Post Office on 17Dec 2007 shows that fear of fraud is the single largest barrier for the over 50sconsidering internet access. These are thereforeserious issues that need to be tackled by government, police and business.
The Scottish Government is engagingwith the UK Government on its Fraud Review, the report of which was published inMarch 2007. Activity is under way in relation to the establishment of a NationalFraud Strategic Authority to provide leadership and coordination for anti-fraudeffort, development of better measurement of fraud loss, and improvements to fraudreporting and intelligence to target investigations.
Guidance for members of the publicto help them to stay safe online is available at www.stop-idfraud.co.uk, www.identitytheft.org.uk and www.banksafeonline.org.uk.
Thereare established links and processes in place which allow the Scottish police serviceto engage with forces internationally on a range of issues, including investigationsinto internet fraud. For example, Europol facilitates co-operation between the competentauthorities of the member states in preventing and combating serious internationalorganised crime.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate ofConstabulary for Scotland are conducting a thematic review of serious fraud in Scotland. Their report and recommendations will be published indue course. HM Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland’s work has shown that the financial and banking sectorsare very active in crime and fraud prevention. Some institutions are bringing intwo factor authentication for web-based transaction and most are well integratedwith law enforcement and counter fraud forums. The banking industry works closely with SOCA, the SCDEA and overseas partnersto minimise online banking fraud committed via phishing and Trojan scams.
The Scottish Crime and Drug EnforcementAgency houses the e‑crime Unit which provides specialist support to the ScottishPolice Service on serious organised crime facilitated by computer and other informationtechnology. The unit is also continually researching, evaluating and developingnew techniques which allow them to remain effective in the rapidly changing worldof hi‑tech crime. This includes forging links with the Scottish business communityto maximise opportunities for information sharing and to identify solutions in responseto concerns over potential vulnerabilities in corporate e‑infrastructures.
The Scottish Government sponsorsthe Scottish Business Crime Centre, a non-profit making organisation created in 1996 and which operatesas a partnership approach between the police, business community and government. The centre acts as secretariat to the Scottish FinancialCrime Group and a sub-group of that is the e-crime Group. This group involves thepolice and major Scottish banks and was formed in early 2007 with the purpose ofestablishing a forum in which to share information and good practice on e-crime.
The centre also act as secretariatto the Scottish Commercial Crime Group. As part of the remit of this group, it wasdecided that the retail sector should be included and a number of meetings havetaken place. Again, this sub-group is in its infancy but it will undoubtedly belooking at current and emerging threats, including e-crime.
The centre has produced a bookletentitled Targeting RetailCrime in Scotland – A Training Booklet for Staff. They are presently working on the second booklet which will include cardcrime and helpful advice on preventing internet fraud.