The threat from fraud continues to have a damaging effect on our country with estimated losses of £52 billion a year. Fraudsters attack all economic sectors and parts of our society and we have learned that our fight against them is much more effective when working together. That is according to the last National Fraud Authority annual report. The NFA, an executive agency of the Home Office, was wound up at the end of March.
National Fraud Authority functions and many of its staff went to the National Crime Agency, City of London Police, the Home Office and the Cabinet Office. In the words of the report: “Much expertise and knowledge has therefore been retained.”
Action Fraud, the reporting centre for fraud and internet crime, transferred to the City of London Police on April 1, 2014. NFA staff working on Action Fraud formally transferred to the City of London Corporation and the NFA’s contract for the Action Fraud outsourced contact centres in Manchester and Edinburgh switched to the City of London Corporation on April 1.
Action Fraud recorded:
• 227,726 crime reports – a 46 per cent increase;
• 160,547 information reports – a 72pc increase; and
• 62,058 phishing and virus reports – a 16pc increase.
Because of what the report termed an IT fault, 2490 reports (of which 1738 were crime reports) dating from between November 2012 and July 2013 and representing 1.3pc of the total number of reports taken by Action Fraud in that time were not transmitted to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau until July 2013.
City of London Police have always acted (or not) on crimes reported to Action Fraud such as referring them to a police force to determine whether a criminal investigation is feasible or disrupting websites, phone numbers and bank accounts linked to fraud.
Chief exec Stephen Harrison took voluntary redundancy; a package put at between £255,000 and £260,000, as did Director of Knowledge Edward Nkune who left with £120,000 to £125,000.
