West Mercia revealed as cyber crime hotspot

The figure was the second highest volume of scams in the country, hitting almost double the next area.

There were more than 130,200 cases of online scams in the UK, with online shopping and auction fraud being the most commonly reported.

Others reported calls from bogus tech support teams, email and social media hacks, personal computer hacks and extortion.

There were 4,436 cases of online shopping fraud in the region, which includes when a product is either when a product is misrepresented online or then a product is not delivered.

More than 3,330 people reported that they had received calls from people claiming to want to help to fix their computer. They ask for permission to remotely access their computer to fix the "bug".

There were 771 cases of email or social media hacks, and 318 cases of PC's being hacked.

West Mercia Police received 186 reports of extortion, where somebody had gained access to a victim's private content and then demands money on the threat of releasing it publicly.

The figures have been released by broadband and phone provider TalkTalk, which worked with Action Fraud to identify the most common online scams.

Detective Inspector Emma Wright, head of West Mercia Police’s economic crime unit, and lead for cyber-crime prevention, said: “Online safety and security is equally as important as personal safety and home security.

"We would always urge people to make sure they have adequate measures in place and that they are aware of what to look out for, to make sure they don’t fall victim to fraud.

“Anyone who does think they have fallen victim to an online scam should report this to Action Fraud, the National Fraud and Cyber Crime Reporting Centre. If the crime is happening now or the suspect is known to be local, then report to the police.”

West Mercia Police has a website where people can learn more about how to protect themselves from cyber crime.

For more information visit westmercia.police.uk/cyber

Donna Moore, head of scam prevention at TalkTalk said: “Scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated crimes that affect the whole country on an unprecedented scale.

"As an internet service provider, we feel it is our responsibility to ensure that the public are armed with the knowledge that may help them identify a scam and therefore not fall victim themselves.

"We regularly work alongside organisations such as Action Fraud to prevent our customers, and the wider public from being targeted by scammers.”