The UK's judges should be given a thorough grounding on the computer techniques used to steal bank account and card details, according to new recommendations from the Sentencing Guidelines Council (SGC).
In a draft guideline sent to Justice Secretary Jack Straw and the Justice Select Committee, the SGC says techniques such as phishing, vishing, pharming and the use of trojans should be treated as making articles for use in fraud.
This would mean sentencing should range between two and seven years for an "extensive and skilfully planned" fraud. For lesser cases the council recommends sentencing ranging from a community order to two years in custody.
Christopher Pitchford, council member, says: "Offenders are using ever more sophisticated ways to commit fraud and this guideline offers advice to sentencers on the use of computers and technology to create and disseminate articles for use in fraud."
"Fraud is not a victimless crime. Economic crime, including the bills for detection and prosecution is a huge burden on the economy," adds Pitchford.
Fraud in the UK jumped nearly 16% in 2008, with 214,342 cases identified throughout the year as recession-hit Brits turned to crime "to make ends meet", according to Cifas.
The fraud prevention service says the rise is partly attributable to a massive 207% jump in facility takeover fraud - where a third party accesses an account, usually through phishing, telephone scams or the interception of cards and statements. The number of accounts taken over rose from 6272 in 2007 to 19,275 last year.
Jack Straw himself fell victim to cybercriminals last week. His e-mail account was hacked by scammers who sent messages to hundreds of contacts asking for money.