Latest news with #PoliceFoundation
Daily Mail
23-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Think tank calls for redesign of fraud policing amid 'stark lack of resources' to tackle scammers
There is a 'fundamental mismatch' between the extent of fraud taking place and the effectiveness of the police response, the boss of the UK's policing think tank has said. Some 43 per cent of crime committed is fraud, costing England and Wales £6.8billion per year, with one in ten adults being a victim of fraud last year. With the rise of AI, fraud is increasing in scale and scams are becoming more difficult for those targeted to detect. Speaking at the launch of the think tank's new report in conjunction with Virgin Media O2, Andy Higgins, interim director of the Police Foundation, said: 'Fraud has become part of the background noise of modern life. 'There are few people who do not receive emails, messages and calls attempting to defraud them of their money. 'There is a stark lack of resources allocated to fraud within policing.' In fact, there were just 866 economic crime officers, some 0.064 per cent of the police force, dedicated to tackling fraud as of 2021. Higgins said around 300 officers have been recruited since then, but the same pattern is expected to continue. The lack of police resources, as well as a low rate of reporting, the Police Foundation's figures show that despite some 4.1million fraud offences taking place in 2021, just 1.3million were reported to the police. Of these only 3.5 per cent were deemed suitable for any form of police investigation. As a result, just 4,400 offenders were sentenced for fraud-related crimes in 2021, and just over 1,000 received prison sentences. And yet fraud offences are having an untold effect on victims, often in ways that are less visible on the surface. Higgins said: 'Action Fraud takes calls from 300 people each year who they deem at risk of suicide.' More than 90 per cent of fraud victims said they had experienced some form of mental health problems as a result. In an effort to address the shortfall in the police response to fraud, the Police Foundation said it wants the police and wider response to fraud to be 'fundamentally redesigned'. Under the Police Foundation's recommendations, the Government would establish a national crime prevention agency, with local authorities also developing localised fraud prevention strategies to build up collective defences against fraud. Higgins said: 'We have a criminal justice system, we don't have a prevention system.' The Foundation is also calling for the City of London Police to be given tasking powers to direct local teams, which themselves would be focused on tackling localised fraud. Funding for fraud policing should be distributed by a national body, it said, adding that spending on fraud investigation should be increased over the next two spending reviews. It also argues that private companies should be legally required to share data for fraud investigation. Murray Mackenzie, director of fraud prevention at Virgin Media O2, said: 'With overall fraud prosecutions falling despite a 33 per cent 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 police recognise the deeply-rooted systemic barriers to tackling fraud - nine in 10 agree that despite their best efforts, officers lack the tools and resources needed to fight back.'
Rhyl Journal
22-05-2025
- Rhyl Journal
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.
South Wales Guardian
22-05-2025
- South Wales Guardian
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. There were more than four million incidents of fraud in the year to December 2024, according to the annual Crime Survey for England and Wales (Gareth Fuller/PA) 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.
Glasgow Times
22-05-2025
- Glasgow Times
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. There were more than four million incidents of fraud in the year to December 2024, according to the annual Crime Survey for England and Wales (Gareth Fuller/PA) 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.
Powys County Times
22-05-2025
- Powys County Times
Fraud victims let down by outdated 1960s policing structure, report finds
Victims of fraud are being let down as UK policing tries to battle '21st century cyber-enabled cross-border crime' in a localised system set up in the 1960s, a report has found. 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.'
