A SENIOR Cheshire Police officer has urged people to remain vigilant online after the county was recorded as being the second highest in the North West for cyber crime.

Results of a survey carried out by Storage Vault ahead of the Christmas period revealed that Cheshire residents lost £65,800 from 938 cases between October 2023 and November 2024.

The county was second only to Merseyside in the region with 1,141 cases recorded at a loss of nearly £98,000.

The storage unit company said the research was carried out to support customers before the busy festive shopping period.

The figures were met with words of warning from officers at the Cheshire Police Economic Crime Unit about the dangers of online shopping.

Detective Inspector Helen Rowlands, who heads up the unit said: “With the internet at the centre of daily life, sadly it's inevitable that there are many kinds of fraud to go along with it.

“This can be anything from identity theft, online transactions, dating scams and more, all designed to fool you and take your money.

“Here at Cheshire Police we are committed to doing all that we can to tackle the issue and we have a dedicated team of officers in our Economic Crime Team who deal with hundreds of cases every year.

“However, due to the nature of cybercrime, and the fact the many of those responsible live outside the UK, we can’t just police our way out, which is why it’s essential that we all do everything we can to reduce our chances of falling victim.”

For more information about how to reduce your chances of being scammed visit Cheshire Police’s website while residents are also urged to follow the Cheshire Police Fraud and Cybercrime Team Facebook page.

Meanwhile, Anthony McAteer, from Storage Vault, said the company wanted to warn people against cyber attacks on their financial details.

He said: “There are a lot of reasons that contribute to us increasingly living our lives online, both privately and while at work, but just because we’re operating in a digital space, it doesn’t mean there aren’t threats we need to be aware of.

“We see customers who prefer to store paper records of their information securely, for the simple reason that it can be a simpler option than securing it against digital attacks.

 “We’re approaching the part of the year where we spend the most collectively.

“While it’s easy to be distracted by the festive season, people need to make sure they’re remaining aware of the risks when they’re searching for gifts for their friends and family.”

Yorkshire and Humber had the highest losses in the UK, with £1.9m taken in 4,016 cases reported.