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Police investigate 3,000 Facebook and Twitter cases

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Almost 3,000 crimes a year linked to Facebook and Twitter are being reported to police in Scotland.

New figures show the number of offences involving the social networking sites has soared.

Last year, Police Scotland compiled 2,710 crime reports which mentioned Facebook or Twitter in them.

The figure has more than doubled in the last two years.

Five years ago there were only 43 crimes linked to the websites.

The statistics, released under freedom of information laws, mean officers are dealing with more than seven complaints involving social media every day.

A breakdown of crime reports showed a wide variety of offences, with the sending of obscene or menacing messages among the most common.

There were also numerous sexual offences including grooming, rape, complaints of stalking, allegations of racial abuse and reports of fraud.

Police have investigated alleged online threats aimed at high-profile figures including First Minister Alex Salmond, Harry Potter author JK Rowling and former Celtic manager Neil Lennon.

Graeme Pearson MSP, Labour’s justice spokesman and a former senior police officer, said action was needed to tackle growing online crime rates.

“Law enforcement and police will require to beef up their responses to these challenges if we are to protect the vulnerable from exploitation,” he said.

The consequences otherwise can be severe for victims and their families.”

In total, 6,538 crime reports featuring the two sites have been compiled by Scots police over the last five years.

Facebook was mentioned in 5,804 of the complaints while Twitter was included in 554.

Other offences investigated included attempted extortion, assaults, thefts and breach of the peace.

A police spokesman said the rise was down to society’s increasing use of online social networking, adding: “Police Scotland has a proven track record of dealing with online criminality including threatening and abusive behaviour which clearly displays our ability and determination to tackle such activity.”

A Twitter spokeswoman said its rules made it clear that the service could not be used for unlawful activity.

No one from Facebook was available for comment.