The scourge of cyber crime now accounts for half of all crime, councillors were told last week.

Jeff Cuthbert, Police Crime Commissioner for Gwent, told Abergavenny Town councillors that cyber crime, including online scams and identity fraud, had vastly increased in the last few years.

Mr Cuthbert said Gwent Police has redirected dwindling resources toward preventing cyber crime through education of modern scams and ‘phishing’ schemes which pilfer personal details before emptying bank accounts.

“Obviously, the internet is hugely important, and I’m not saying people shouldn’t use it, but the risks are always there, unfortunately. The only thing we can do is make people aware of the dangers in giving out their information online,” said Mr Cuthbert.

He added that the twin problems of loneliness and cyber crime often went hand-in-hand, with unscrupulous scammers taking advantage of older people who are ‘just appreciative that someone is willing to chat with them’.

Chillingly, the bulk of online crime comes in the trafficking of child abuse images, which has given rise to online vigilante groups which pose as children to snare paedophiles and post the video evidence online.

Talking about these groups, Mr Cuthbert said he ‘wasn’t a fan’ of such actions, adding that those working to trap suspected paedophiles should receive some training from the police.

“Unfortunately, the trade in such images is not new, but the use of the web in distributing them is. Anyone who thinks they’ll get away with this can think again. With today’s technology, we will track you and you will be exposed.”

Outlining his force’s priorities, Mr Cuthbert said the advent of modern slavery was particularly troubling, and a challenge for police to crack. Many victims of modern slavery ‘don’t know they are being maltreated’.

“They can become institutionalised. In one case, the poor man involved had been working for next to nothing for over 16 years. It took a long time to convince him that he was being very badly treated.

Officers at Gwent have been trained in detecting modern slavery, and are committed to stamping it out, he added.

Despite continuing budget cuts, Mr Cuthbert insisted police visibility was ‘very important’ and work was being done with PCSOs to maintain a visible presence as the force recruits another 120 officers for this year.

“I have pledged that no way will we withdraw or reduce police presence in Gwent,” he added.