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by Carrie-Ann Skinner

Facebook crimes surge by 7,400 percent

News
Oct 30, 20121 min
BroadbandData and Information SecurityEndpoint Protection

The number of crimes taking place on Facebook has soared by 7,440 percent in the past three years.

The number of crimes taking place on Facebook has soared by 7,400 percent in the past three years.

Cambridgeshire Police received 1,640 reports of crimes on the site, including cases of bullying, harassment and even grooming this year. That’s up on the 22 reports in 2007.

The social network was also linked to 255 domestic abuse incidents within Cambridgeshire.

“The Facebook phenomenon is just amazing. Everyone seems to be using it, and we certainly get a lot of calls that are Facebook-related,” said Detective Sergeant Darren Cooper.

“It is a good tool for messaging and you can see how it has been used with the student riots. Parents of pupils have gone down to schools to report their child has been bullied through Facebook. It is used to make threats.”

See also: Facebook turned down $15bn Microsoft bid