CSEW computer misuse down 32% to around 692,000 incidents in YE March 2025

Computer misuse incidents in England and Wales fell by 32% to around 692,000 in the year ending (YE) March 2025, according to Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimates published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on 26 March 2026¹. The fall was driven by a 36% drop in incidents of unauthorised access to personal information, to 564,000 incidents¹. CSEW computer misuse was 61% lower than the YE March 2017 survey (1.8 million incidents), the earliest comparable year¹.

Fraud moved the other way. The CSEW estimated around 4.2 million fraud incidents in YE March 2025, a 31% increase on the YE March 2024 survey (3.2 million incidents) and the highest estimated number since fraud was first collected on the survey in YE March 2017¹. The ONS attributed the rise mainly to a 30% increase in bank and credit account fraud (to around 2.4 million incidents) and a 23% increase in consumer and retail fraud (to around 1.1 million incidents)¹. Consumer and retail fraud, advance fee fraud and other fraud combined came to an estimated 1.7 million incidents, an 88% increase on the YE March 2017 survey (910,000 incidents)¹.

Of the estimated 4.2 million fraud incidents, around 3 million involved a loss, and victims were fully reimbursed in 2.1 million of those cases¹. Where a loss occurred, 70% of victims lost less than £250, 19% lost between £250 and £999, and 11% lost £1,000 or more, with 1% losing £10,000 or more¹. Full reimbursement varied by fraud type: 85% of bank and credit account fraud, 48% of consumer and retail fraud and 40% of all other fraud¹.

The ONS said the recorded fraud series is not a good indicator of volume or trends over time, because a large proportion of fraud victims do not report incidents to Action Fraud, and because the series is affected by changes in membership of the industry bodies Cifas and UK Finance¹. Recorded fraud offences rose 1% in YE March 2025 to 354,622 offences; reports referred to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau from Cifas rose 10% to 381,709, while reports from UK Finance fell 2% to 545,023¹. Police recorded computer misuse is also described as not a good indicator of trends, though Action Fraud reported a 36% increase in offences for YE March 2025, to 55,576 offences from 40,832, mainly because of large increases in social media and email hacking offences¹.

The ONS also reported that CSEW fraud estimates have not held accredited official statistics status since January 2014, when accreditation was removed by the Office for Statistics Regulation following an assessment that found evidence the quality and consistency of the underlying data may not be reliable¹.

Why it matters for households

The CSEW is a survey of people living in households in England and Wales, so the 4.2 million fraud and 692,000 computer misuse figures are estimates of incidents experienced by the public rather than counts of crimes reported to police¹. The fraud estimate covers the year to March 2025 and was published on 26 March 2026¹.

Most fraud incidents involved no contact between offender and victim at all: 79% in YE March 2025, rising to 90% for bank and credit account fraud¹. Where there was contact, the most common first method was a telephone call (39%) or online, for example social media (32%), followed by email (13%), in person (9%) and text message (4%)¹. The most common reason for contact was buying or selling items online (25%), followed by the chance to make an investment with a guaranteed high return (8%) and delivery of items (7%)¹.

Emotional impact was reported in 71% of fraud incidents, most commonly annoyance (75%), anger (49%), shock (27%) and loss of confidence or feeling vulnerable (23%)¹. In 40% of incidents victims said they were not affected at all, while 31% reported financial loss, 28% loss of time or inconvenience and 13% feelings of shame, embarrassment or self-blame¹.

The ONS found that, after adjusting for other factors, the odds of being a fraud victim were greater for disabled people than non-disabled people, and for women than men¹. The odds were lower for people who identified as Asian or Asian British, those with no educational qualifications, and those in households with a total income below £10,400, compared with people who identified as White, those with a degree, and those in households with income of £52,000 or more respectively¹.

For businesses, the Home Office's Economic Crime Survey 2024 reported that 27% of businesses with employees experienced fraud in the 12 months before the survey, most commonly fake invoice fraud (11%), mandate fraud (7%) and investment fraud (6%)¹. The Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025 found 20% of businesses and 14% of charities had been victims of at least one cyber crime in the past year, similar to the previous year¹. The Home Office's latest estimate of the cost of fraud in YE March 2024 was £14.4 billion, comprising £9.2 billion affecting individuals and £5.2 billion affecting businesses¹.

What happens next

The ONS said more recent estimates for trends in fraud and computer misuse were released in the Crime in England and Wales: YE September 2025 bulletin, and that these remain at similar levels for fraud¹. The next release date for this bulletin is to be announced¹. Report Fraud, the replacement for Action Fraud and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, was launched by the City of London Police on 4 December 2025¹.