Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the level of threat to people over the age of 65 of being targeted by online (a) data phishing and (b) other scam attacks.

The Government recognises the serious risks presented by online fraud and recently published a Fraud Strategy setting out our approach to block these scams and better protect the public.

Phishing is one of the main methods used to commit fraud in this country, with Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) data (year ending March 2022) indicating that one in two people reported receiving an email, text, or social media message that may have been phishing in the last month. This included 43% of 65-74 year olds and 28% of 75+ year olds. Source: Nature of fraud and computer misuse in England and Wales: Appendix tables - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk).

Fraud affects people of all ages, with the CSEW indicating that the highest proportion of victims are those aged 45-54 (9%). People aged 18-24 (5%) and 75+ (6%) were significantly less likely to be a victim of fraud than the average adult (8%). Source: Nature of fraud and computer misuse in England and Wales: Appendix tables - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)