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Introduction
Why we did this review
In 2025, the Scottish Government published the first estimates from the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) on the prevalence and volume of fraud and computer misuse crimes experienced in Scotland. The new survey questions were developed over a period of several years and largely replicate fraud and computer misuse questions in the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) managed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
To determine whether the new SCJS fraud and computer misuse estimates could be published as accredited official statistics, we carried out an assessment of whether the statistics meet the standards of the Code of Practice for Statistics. We agreed to Scottish Government’s request to assess these statistics in May 2026.
We drew on our earlier assessment of the CSEW fraud and computer misuse statistics, which confirmed the accredited official statistics status in 2018. Like the CSEW review, this review focused primarily on the development of the new questions and statistics, the methods used, user engagement, and the presentation of the statistics.
To inform our judgements, we gathered views from a small number of users of the statistics (two Scottish Government policy teams and two academics).
Background to the statistics
The Scottish Government publishes annual statistics from the SCJS. The SCJS is a household survey which asks individuals aged 16 or over in Scotland about their experiences and perceptions of crime and the justice system. The SCJS has been running since 2008/09 and provides insight into long-term trends in experiences and perceptions of crime
The current fraud and computer misuse questions were first introduced to the SCJS in the 2023/24 survey. The fraud and computer misuse victim form follows the same design as the standard SJCS victim form that is used to collect details about incidents of property and violent crime.
Prior to the addition of the new questions, information on experiences of cyber fraud and computer misuse was collected via a separate questionnaire. Findings from these questions were not included in the SCJS headline crime estimates because they were not collected on a comparable basis. In contrast, findings from the current fraud and computer misuse questions are comparable to the property and violent crime estimates and are therefore included in the headline SCJS crime estimates.