BUSINESSES have been warned to watch out for online fraudsters after figures show North Yorkshire firms have lost nearly £4m to cyber crime in the last year.

With online crime becoming an increasing threat for businesses, new figures from Get Safe Online and Action Fraud released this week show that from March 2015 to March 2016, a total of £3,952,171 was reported lost by businesses in North Yorkshire to online crime.

Across the country, Action Fraud saw a 22 per cent increase from 30,475 in 2014 and 2015, to 37,070 crimes reported in the last year.

On average, each police force in the UK recorded £19,626,323 in losses by businesses in their area.

However, the true picture could be even higher, as these figures do not take into account the amount potentially lost by those businesses who choose not to report online crime to the police.

Detective Chief Inspector Matt Walker, head of cybercrime at North Yorkshire Police said: “For today’s modern business, the ability to safely email, work remotely and operate a website is crucial to everyday operation, success, and the ability to grow.

“However, business owners need to be aware of this type of increasing crime that threatens their security, and how to take steps to prevent it.

"A part of this is ensuring employees are also aware of the potential risks to the business and their part in how to prevent it.

“I also encourage businesses to report any suspicious activity online or threats and breaches of their security.

"The more intelligence and evidence we can gather, the better chance we have of driving down this type of crime.”

The latest figures show businesses need to do more to ensure staff have appropriate online fraud awareness training.

A substantial amount of attempted fraud is successful due to lack of knowledge or bad habits by their employees.

An increasing prevalent crime, mandate fraud occurs when a fraudster gets victims to change a direct debit or standing order by pretending to be an organisation a victim makes regular payments to.

DCI Walker said: "It's an extremely targeted approach, with 20 cases reported in North Yorkshire in the last year, and £168,872 lost to it by businesses in the area.

Tony Neate, chief executive of Get Safe Online said: “Businesses need to create measures to prevent, detect and respond to potential security threats. It’s all about education.”

Visit https://www.getsafeonline.org/business/.