Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many reports her Department has received of whaling fraud since 2010; and what estimate the Government has made of the cost of such fraud to UK businesses.

This information is not held centrally. All fraud should be reported to Action Fraud, the national reporting centre for fraud and online crime which is operated by City of London Police.

Whaling fraud is also known as CEO fraud. Fraudsters pose as the CEO of a company and send emails to an individual in the finance department requesting an urgent transfer of money to a specific bank account. That bank account is operated by the fraudsters and once the money is received it is moved elsewhere and the account closed.

Action Fraud reports that fraudsters use a strong element of social engineering to commit CEO fraud ensuring that the request to transfer funds appears urgent and legitimate. According to Action Fraud the average loss to CEO fraud is £35,000.