The number of cyber crimes leapt by nearly 12% in Japan in the first half of this year from the same period of 2005, with fraud connected to Internet auctions leading the way, a police report, quoted by Reuters said.
The Reuters report, quoting a statement from Japan's National Police Agency, said 1,802 cyber crimes were uncovered in the first half of the year, the highest level for a six-month period since record-keeping began in 2000.
Fraud through abuse of computer networks rose most sharply, at 733 cases up 9.1%, and accounting for 40% of the total, the Reuters report said.
The majority of these related to Internet auctions, a police spokeswoman said.
Cases of child prostitution through dating Web sites rose 18.2% to 169, while trademark offences such as submitting fake brand merchandise to Internet auctions rose more than doubled to 106 cases, the report said.
The Reuters report further said police data has previously shown that Internet-related crimes including 'phishing' and illegal access to computer networks have more than doubled in the past five years.