Fraud and cyber crime rose by 17 per cent in Thames Valley last year, according to the latest research.

The number of offences rose from 11,136 in 2017 to 13,070 in 2018, according to Action Fraud data released by the Office for National Statistics.

Only West Yorkshire experienced a higher growth, with a 20 per cent increase.

Action Fraud is the UK’s national fraud reporting service, run by a private sector company for the National Fraud Authority.

According to the service more than £190,000 a day is lost in the UK by victims of cybercrime.

Cybersecurity experts this week warned WhatsApp users to update the messaging app as soon as possible following the discovery of a major vulnerability that could allow attackers to install a malicious code on smartphones.

The increase in fraud and computer misuse in Thames Valley mirrors 2017’s figures, which were also 17 per cent higher than the previous year.

For 2015 to 2016, the increase was 12 per cent.

The Thames Valley area includes towns such as Reading, Bracknell, Wokingham, West Berkshire, Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead as well as the city of Oxford.

The data can be found here.