Fraud crimes increased by 72% in the year to Q3, largely driven by unauthorised transactions and attempts to obtain personal or banking information online or by phone.

New CSO statistics also show that, in the 12 months to September, sexual offences increased by 10%.

There was a fall in the number of incidents of:

• Burglary (down 36%),
• Theft (down 20%), and,
• Robbery (down 18%).

COVID breaches down

A total of 516 offences were recorded for breaches of COVID-19 regulations in Q3. This figure was significantly lower than in previous quarters, reflecting the relatively low level of COVID-19 restrictions compared to earlier quarters.

The latest recorded crime statistics, which cover the period to the end of September, show 15 fewer incidents of murder or manslaughter than in the previous year.

However, there was an increase of 10% in the number of crimes classified as sexual offences.

Incidents in most other categories fell compared to the previous year, with COVID-19 restrictions having a likely impact on levels of crime.

Statistician Sam Scriven said: “Just over 13,500 frauds were recorded in the 12-month period compared to just under 8,000 in the previous year, an increase of 72%.