You asked
Please could you provide the following data relating to dating apps:
- The number of offences per app, broken down by tax year.
- Gender and age group of the offender.
- Gender and age group of the victims.
- Type of crimes.
We said
Thank you for your email.
We publish statistics taken from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and crimes recorded by the police, and the data we hold relate to the victims of crime rather than the perpetrators. Unfortunately, we cannot provide data on crimes relating specifically to dating apps or for the level of detail you require.
The closest data available relate to incidents of ‘dating scams’ recorded by Action Fraud. Appendix Table A5 of our most recent quarterly statistical release, Crime in England and Wales: year ending September 2018, provides a breakdown, by reporting body, of the different types of fraud. Within this release, the number of recorded dating scams are listed under ‘Advance fee payments’.
The CSEW also provides information on advance fee fraud, however it is not possible to break this down specifically to identify dating scams.
It is possible that Action Fraud may be able to help you further with your enquiry. They can be contacted at https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/contact-us
Data on perpetrators of crime are produced by the Ministry of Justice. They can be reached by email at: statistics.enquiries@justice.gov.uk
If you would like any further information, you can simply email us at CrimeStatistics@ons.gov.uk and we will endeavour to help.