Even though crime in Austria has been falling for years, fraudsters and criminals are increasingly moving their nasty business online.
Crimes on the Internet are trending: crimes such as blackmail emails, hacking and online drug trafficking have increased by a whopping 26% compared to the previous year - this is shown by the current crime statistics from the Ministry of the Interior for 2020.
The classic burglar has to stay at home and ultimately uses the pandemic for his own benefit. Franz Ruf, Director General of Public Security, explains that 10 years ago cybercrime was still an orchid issue. However, the numbers today are frightening: while there were around 4,000 offenses back then, over the years these have grown to more than 35,950 offenses and have become a main issue.
But it's not just online crime that's increasing, the crime rate in homes is also rising alarmingly.
Because not everyone's own home is the safest place. More people were victims of domestic violence in 2020 than in previous years. Women are largely affected.
However, the number of people in women's shelters is low due to the pandemic, so those affected are increasingly reporting to help hotlines. Overall, there were around 13% more cases of domestic violence last year than the previous year.
“We believe and assume that the number of unreported cases is very high. And that many women simply don't go anywhere for fear that their partner might find out. Or that they have no opportunity to get help here at all,”
explains Maria Rösslhumer from the Autonomous Eastern Association. Women's shelters.
Benefits fraud
There was also a high increase in illegal payments in social welfare. Fraud has increased by 70% during the pandemic, even though the overall crime rate in Austria has been falling for years.
A total of over 433,000 criminal offenses were reported last year. That is 11.3% less than in 2019.
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Source: Glomex
Article image: STEKLO / Shutterstock.com
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