You asked
Please could you provide data concerning the damage caused by phishing.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry on the regarding data relating to phishing.
Unfortunately, we do not hold the information you have requested. Phishing emails in themselves are not recorded by either the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) or police recorded crime figures. Phishing is an enabler to commit fraud, and no separate crime is recorded in relation to the phishing.
For any fraud classification to apply, the Home Office Counting Rules (HOCR) require that respondent must not only have been the victim of the offence, but must also be the “specific intended victim”, whereby they must have responded to initial communication from a fraudster, or taken some action in a way that the perpetrator intended (for example, clicking on a link in an email, or ringing a given number). In cases of phishing (emails which link to bogus websites in an attempt to gain access to valuable personal information such as usernames and passwords), it is not sufficient just to have received a phishing email for it to be recorded as a crime in the HOCR. This means that phishing per se is not included in either the survey estimates or the police recorded crime data.
If you have any further questions, please email us at crimestatistics@ons.gov.uk and we will endeavour to help.