SME Business News

Small businesses lose up to £800 a year to cyber-crime, according to a survey by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), which is calling for more action to tackle online crime.

More than half (54 per cent) of businesses reported being a victim of crime in the last twelve months – 37 per cent having problems with phishing emails, 15 per cent falling victim to card not present fraud and another 15 per cent falling foul of IT problems caused by viruses and hackers.

Most fraud, where it has a financial impact, costs small businesses between £500 and £5,000, while the average cost across the sector is £768 a year.

The FSB’s report, “Inhibiting Enterprise: Fraud and online crime against small businesses”, found that one third of small firms do not report fraud or online crime to the police or their banks because of a lack of faith in the system.

More than 50 per cent (53 per cent) indicated they needed clearer information about how and where to report this type of crime, while 44 per cent wanted a named contact in their local police force specifically focused on fraud and online crime.

Mike Cherry, Federation of Small Businesses Home Affairs Chairman, said: “E-crime is becoming an increasingly serious issue for small businesses, which are losing up to £800 a year to fraud and online crime – a cost which could have a significant impact on a small business.”

The Internet is a huge and unregulated area. It is, therefore, vital that small businesses can feel confident that there are structures in place to identify fraud and crack down on cyber-crime.