Fraud, extortion, child pornography – with a whopping 60,195 reports in 2022, online crime is currently one of the biggest challenges for the executive branch.
Alarming figures when it comes to cybercrime: As the “Krone” reported two months ago, there was already a 30 percent increase in the number of reports in 2021. And the negative trend continued: in the previous year, 60,195 internet crimes were reported. About a third of these cases (33.9 percent) have been cleared up, as announced on Tuesday at a press conference by Interior Minister Gerhard Karner, Director of the State Police Franz Ruf and Chief of the Federal Criminal Investigation Department Andres Holzer.
An increase that is mainly caused by the greater willingness of victims to report and the increased pressure to investigate. Even though the number of unreported cases is still high. “Nearly half of the reported cases are fraud offenses on the internet,” said the interior minister.
Strong increase in hacker attacks and hate messages
“There was a sharp increase in hacker attacks and hate on the internet, and advertisements under the Prohibition Act also increased sharply,” Karner explains the statistics. In doing so, the Minister of the Interior referred to the planned reform of the criminal law, which will be implemented this year. In addition, the penalties for hackers and online abuse will be increased – the necessary assessment must be completed in April and the amendment to the law must be decided in the autumn. A look into the future: “Our cybercrime department is also being expanded.”
Source: Krone
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