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The Attorney General, Siromi Turaga has brought attention to the low number of cybercrime cases reported to authorities, following the unanimous approval of the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime by Parliament.

According to statistics revealed by the AG; there was only one case of dishonestly obtaining or dealing with personal financial information in 2019 and none from 2020 to 2023, while there were 32 cases of unauthorized modification of restricted data held in computers in 2019 and none from 2020 to 2023.

As for trafficking obscene publication; there were three cases each in 2019 and 2020, two cases in 2021, three cases in 2022, and four cases in 2024.

Also, there was no case of causing harm by posting electronic communication from 2019 to 2023, while there was only one case of posting an intimate visual recording in 2021 and none from 2019 to 2023.

Attorney General, Siromi Turaga

Turaga says there is a lack of awareness for people to report cybercrime to authorities.

“The pattern is the same, Mr Speaker, Sir. It is the lack of awareness of members of the public to report this matter to the authorities. What we see is that a lot of these have been published online, but they are not pushed to where they are supposed to be.”

Turaga says the ratification of the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime will help advocate for sensible behaviour on the internet, with the help of resources and expertise from member countries.

The Budapest Convention on Cybercrime is the first international treaty seeking to address cybercrime by harmonizing national laws, improving investigative techniques, and increasing cooperation among nations.

It was drawn up by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France.

The majority of the government and opposition supported the motion to approve the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime in Parliament yesterday.