A North West Fraud Forum (NWFF) to bring together professionals from across the public and private sector to fight fraud collectively, will be launching on Tuesday morning, January 26.
The NWFF has been created by the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU), the City of London Police and the London Fraud Forum (LFF, whose chair Robert Brooker will be among speakers at the launch). It will be the only forum of its kind in the region. Like other forums, it will offer a platform for members to raise awareness of the latest fraud types and trends while promoting collaboration and the sharing of knowledge and best practice.
Chaired by Sgt Shifa Chowdhury Jones of the North West ROCU, the NWFF board and partners will come from the public and private sectors. The board is made up of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), City of London Police as the national lead body for economic crime, the accounting firm PKF Littlejohn, NAFN Data and Intelligence Services, NHS Counter Fraud Authority, The Insolvency Service, the central government Internal Audit Agency, Trading Standards, the trade association UK Finance, TLT Solicitors, Asset Reality, and supported by partner LexisNexis Risk Solutions, the data software firm.
The NWFF plans events for its members to learn and network: webinars, breakfast seminars and an annual conference slated for September. Members will also get regular fraud updates, news, and alerts from its partners and a dedicated members-only website portal to share knowledge and invite discussion.
Sergeant Shifa Chowdhury Jones, pictured, said: “The North West region is seeing large increases in fraud reporting year on year. Based on the past four years’ data, around 625 victims in the North West report that they have been defrauded in some way each week. These reports have resulted in losses of hundreds of millions of pounds each year to the North West communities. The NWFF will offer a valuable forum for the region’s counter fraud professionals to share information across sectors to help inform and equip us all to effectively fight and reduce fraud in the region.
“We will be launching on January 26 with a series of online presentations and talks (via zoom) from the board and its partners where they will be discussing fraud for the region, and present the forum’s aims and objectives, annual events schedule and membership benefits.
“We invite anyone involved in protecting businesses or organisations to become a member of NWFF and benefit from the experience and expertise which a diverse and powerful shared network will offer.”
You can register now for the free launch, on January 26 between 10am and 1pm via this link: http://bit.ly/NWFFLaunch.
NWFF annual membership costs £75 per year, or £175 including ticket to the annual conference in September.
