
Fraud victims let down by outdated 1960s policing structure, report finds
Think tank the Police Foundation has called for a major overhaul of how law enforcement deals with fraud, which makes up around 40% of total crime in Britain.
In the year to December 2024, there were an estimated 4.1 million incidents of fraud, up a third on the previous year, according to the annual Crime Survey for England and Wales.
The Police Foundation report, published on Thursday, made a series of recommendations including setting up a UK Crime Prevention Agency and a national policing body to deal with fraud.
The issue should be dealt with at a UK level alongside terrorism and serious and organised crime including economic and cyber offences, it said.
It also called upon regional mayors and police and crime commissioners to take a so-called public health approach to fraud, raising awareness about how to avoid being scammed.
The report concluded: 'Fraud has become the single biggest form of crime affecting people in the UK and yet our policing institutions have not caught up with the scale of that change.
'We have a 1960s local policing structure trying to fight a 21st century cyber-enabled cross-border crime.
'As a result the police are achieving limited success and victims are receiving too little by way of service.'
While the report found that a lot of prevention work needs to be done outside policing, it also called for reform of how the police deal with fraud by 2030.
Michael Skidmore, head of serious crime research at the Police Foundation, said: 'Fraud is a high-volume, harmful crime, often perpetrated online by sophisticated networks that operate across police force and international borders.
'In comparison, our policing response is under-resourced, under-skilled and locked into a reactive, geographically bounded policing model developed to tackle the local crime problems of the 1960s.
'We are calling for a wholesale shift to a prevention-focused response.
'We need a new national lead body with a ringfenced budget and local and regional tasking powers, greater private sector collaboration and an uplift in skills.
'The current model is simply unsustainable, given the scale, harm and sophistication of the fraud challenge we face today.'
The Crime Survey for England and Wales estimates that around 14% of fraud is reported to police or the centralised Action Fraud service.
A total of 1,214,639 fraud reports were made to police in the year to March 2024, of which 3,641 ended with someone being charged with a crime.
Research by report sponsor Virgin Media O2 using freedom of information requests suggested that only 6% of reports to Action Fraud were passed to police forces for investigation in 2023/24.
Three of the forces in England and Wales had no officers dedicated to investigating fraud, the telecoms giant found.
The report also said that in March 2021 there were 866 economic crime officers in English and Welsh police forces, equal to 0.64% of the total workforce when fraud is 40% of crime.
Murray Mackenzie, director of fraud prevention at Virgin Media O2, said the company had blocked fraudulent transactions worth more than £250 million in one year.
He added: 'With overall fraud prosecutions falling despite a 33% jump in cases last year, the UK is failing to effectively tackle fraud, and criminals are stealing with no real prospect of ever facing justice.'
The report said that of 252 police officers and staff surveyed by YouGov between March 31 and April 4, 88% disagreed that police have enough resources to tackle fraud.
When the author asked one unnamed senior officer what the National Fraud Squad is, a scheme set up by the previous government, they laughed, the report said.
A series of recommendations in the report also includes a call for the private sector to be pushed to share data that could prevent fraud with the police.
Deputy Commissioner Nik Adams, national co-ordinator for economic and cyber crime for the City of London Police, said: 'The response to fraud has been improving.
'It is not about a badly designed system; it is about sustainably resourcing and strengthening the response to keep pace with this constantly evolving threat.
'To accelerate further fraud reductions, the wider system, especially the tech sector, need to make online platforms much more hostile to criminals.'
He said that City of London Police is 'leading a national economic crime strategy to increase fraud investigators and the use of financial investigation to seize assets, including crypto currency, from criminals using specialist investigation and policing powers.'
Its officers are also working with watchdog His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services to make sure local forces understand what they need to do to tackle fraud, he added.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Wales Online
5 hours ago
- Wales Online
Train passenger plea issued in search for man who vanished a month ago
Train passenger plea issued in search for man who vanished a month ago Police believe William Shine may have travelled to Machynlleth on May 9 A renewed appeal has been issued concerning missing man William Shine from Birmingham. It is believed he travelled to mid Wales in May (Image: West Midlands Police ) A renewed appeal has been made for a man who has been missing for more than a month who police believe may have travelled to a Welsh town. William Shine, from Birmingham, was last seen on May 9 in Harborne and officers from West Midlands Police have been working to find him since. Now, the 41-year-old's family have appealed to the public directly for help finding him. For the latest restaurant news and reviews, sign up to our food and drink newsletter here . In a statement, William's family said: 'We are really worried about William and we want to know that he is safe. "If you have any information that you think may help please do come forward. 'We just want to know that he is alright and for him to return home. Article continues below "William if you are out there and see this please just get in touch and let us know that you are ok.' West Midlands Police say that William left Birmingham on a train travelling in the direction of Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury. They believe he may have travelled to Wales and may have been seen at Machynlleth shortly before 1pm on May 9. Article continues below A spokesperson for the force said: 'We know William was seen on the train to Machynlleth and our officers want to hear from anyone who regularly uses the service and may have seen him on that day, especially between Barmouth and Pwllheli. "If you think you know where William went, or if you saw him during his journey, call 999 immediately quoting PID number 453910.' Join our WhatsApp news community here for the latest breaking news.


The Courier
8 hours ago
- The Courier
Boy, 9, died trying to escape abuse at Fife school as family make 'cover-up' claim
The brother of a nine-year-old boy who died while trying to escape a Fife residential school has accused the UK Government of a cover-up. The youngster was knocked down and killed as police chased him along the M90 in April 1972. It was the 13th time the boy had run away from Corsbie Hall, in Thornton, amid claims of horrific abuse. A Fife MP later claimed the school could be part of 'a major education scandal'. However, Secretary of State for Scotland Gordon Campbell rejected calls for an inquiry. The family of the youngster who died told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry they were astonished at Lord Campbell of Croy's reaction. They claim documents suggest the secretary of state and George Taylor-Bryant, Corsbie Hall's headteacher, were friends. Francis, the boy's brother, said: 'They've airbrushed everything out of existence and it will come back to haunt them. 'My reaction is it's a cover-up.' Corsbie Hall was located in the old Thornton Fever Hospital, near Glenrothes, from 1970 to 1972. The inquiry heard children were regularly beaten, starved and forced to take cold showers at the school for 'mentally and socially disturbed pupils'. And Margaret Thatcher, education secretary at the time, stopped English youngsters from attending. The nine-year-old boy who died cannot be named due to legal restrictions. However, the inquiry heard he was removed from his Stirling home against his family's wishes because was dyslexic. Francis and sister Sharon, both pseudonyms, said their brother complained of being locked in a cupboard in just his pants almost every night. He spoke of being hit with sticks, refused food and forced to scrub floors and carry rocks. Then, in a letter home, the youngster told how he had run away 12 times but promised not to do it again. However, Sharon said: 'He ran away one more time and that's when he was killed.' The youngster's death had a devastating impact on his family and many years later they started looking for answers. They discovered Parliamentary records which show Fife Labour MP Willie Hamilton pushed several times for an official inquiry into Corsbie Hall. He said the situation was 'extremely unsatisfactory'. However, a letter from the secretary of state described their brother running away as 'no more than a boyish escapade'. And Lord Campbell, who died in 2005 aged 83, said: 'No blame can be attached to the school.' He later accused Mr Hamilton of 'being a little hard on the school', adding: 'I don't think an inquiry will serve any useful purpose.' The records show Corsbie Hall headteacher Mr Taylor-Bryant had no teaching or childcare qualifications. They also revealed one of the teachers had previously been charged with sexual offences against children.


Edinburgh Reporter
10 hours ago
- Edinburgh Reporter
Calls for the government to address demand for prostitution
The MP for Edinburgh North and Leith, Tracy Gilbert today led a parliamentary debate on Tuesday in Westminster Hall calling for urgent government action to address the demand driving prostitution and sex trafficking in the UK. Ms Gilbert said that the debate, 'That this House has considered the matter of tackling demand for prostitution and sex trafficking', focused on the urgent need to adopt a demand-reduction approach to tackle the exploitation of women and girls who are coerced, trafficked, or driven by poverty into the sex trade. Her speech highlighted the issue in Edinburgh, and some of the vulnerable women who have been affected by it, including Fiona Broadfoot who has spoken out about her treatment whilst working in an Edinburgh brothel. Tracy Gilbert said: 'In Edinburgh over the weekend (7 –8 June 2025), 142 women were being advertised for prostitution on one pimping website alone. Five of the top ten adverts are explicitly posted by so-called 'agencies' – so the site isn't even trying to hide the organised nature of this exploitation.' She outlined that current legislation fails to effectively deter those who purchase sex and called on the Government to explore legislative models that criminalise the buying, not the selling, of sex, as adopted in countries such as Sweden and Norway, and she gave examples of reviews made after the buying of sex including the following: 'Bad attitude. Everything was off limits.' 'Finally got her to lay there but it's like shagging a dead fish.' 'No smile, her atrocious English made the interactions even more impossible.' Tracy added: 'Men who buy sex are reviewing women as if they are reviewing an Xbox game. These comments prove that men who pay for sex treat women as subordinate sex objects whose role is to service their sexual desires.' Watch the debate online here: Like this: Like Related