The clarification rate is higher in the Community than at the national level, but even so, eight out of ten crimes are not resolved
Credit card scams, ‘phishing’ or ‘smishing’, data or money theft, threats… The irruption of the internet and the unquestionable reign of new technologies opened the door to a whole universe of possibilities, but also to a new type of crime that finds an unbeatable hiding place on the Internet and has not stopped growing in recent years.
Last year, the State Security Corps and Forces received up to 8,009 complaints in the Region for crimes of all kinds committed through the Internet, an average of almost 22 each day. According to data recently provided by the Ministry of the Interior, the figure represents a new rise, of 17.3%. Another increase that corroborates the upward trend that has already been seen in recent years and especially after the outbreak of the pandemic -in 2020 the rise was 69.3%-.
A crime without borders
usurpation of marital status
Source: Ministry of the Interior. Illustration: Freepik
A crime without borders
usurpation of marital status
Source: Ministry of the Interior / Illustration by Freepik
The rebound in this type of computer crime is not something new, although the health crisis has given it even more force. Complaints for cybercrimes have been growing unstoppably for some time now and have nearly tripled in the last three years -in 2018 there were 2,672 in the Community-. The phenomenon has become bigger and is generating more and more damage. Murcians affected by this type of crime exceeded 6,100 last year, three times more than a few years ago.
A complicated trace
The prosecution of this type of offense entails a special difficulty for obvious reasons. These technological criminals often strike from another country and even use third parties – called ‘economic mules’ – and a tangle of connections that make them difficult to track. Not in vain, according to the data handled by the Interior, last year eight out of ten cybercrimes went unpunished in the Region. At the national level, the resolution rate is even lower: 15.9%. The State Security Corps and Forces managed to clarify 46,141 of the nearly 305,500 reported cybercrimes.
Despite the obstacles encountered by the Security Forces and Bodies in their fight against this crime that knows no borders, more and more people are being detained or investigated for these attacks. Last year, the State Security Forces and Corps rounded up 415 people in the Region for displaying alleged crimes through the networks. The figure has been increasing from 298 in 2019 or 354 in 2020.
Up to 6,100 residents of the Region were affected last year by this type of crime, three times more than three years ago
Scams are, by far, the crime that hits the most through the Internet. Up to 84.3% of all the complaints received last year in the Region -specifically 6,754- responded to the activity of ‘cyber-fraudsters’. Of them, according to the Interior, 2,953 are scams with credit cards, debit cards -the so-called ‘phishing’- or traveler’s checks; 192 bank scams; 264 computer scams; and the rest are cataloged in the mixed bag of other frauds. The State Attorney General’s Office warns, in its latest report, of the generalization of some frauds that have already been occurring in recent years and of the appearance of new types of deception.
Computer attacks are also becoming more frequent and last year they were behind fifty complaints in the Region. The State Security Corps and Forces also investigated 41 cases of illegal computer access.
Scams are, by far, the crime that hits the Internet the most. They account for 84.3% of all complaints
Threats through the Internet are other crimes that are growing unstoppably. In the Region, up to 495 of these cases were reported last year, more than one on average each day. Five years ago -in 2016-, the figure was practically half: 266. Coercion and slander are also the order of the day. Up to 77 and 14 cases, respectively, were registered last year in the Community, according to Interior. Murcia also reported 55 crimes of discovery or disclosure of secrets through new technologies.
The network is also, on occasion, the ideal breeding ground for other types of crimes, such as harassment or sexual abuse. In 2021 there were also 441 cases of usurpation of marital status through the internet.
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