Despite being nearly a third of crime in England and Wales, fraud is not prioritised by the police, new research by Perpetuity Research and the think-tank Police Foundation suggests.
Their study of crime data plus interviews with national and local practitioners found that the system for dealing with fraud is poorly structured; fraud prevention messages are confusing; and victim support services do not cater for the specific needs of fraud victims.
Although the police received 277,561 reports of fraud in 2017/18, only 8313 (three per cent) led to criminal charges. This compares to 13 per cent of reported crimes overall that result in a charge, summons or community resolution. Once a crime is reported, there are major delays before victims know whether their cases will be taken up by the police. This means that chances for investigation can be lost. Victims, and their cases, are often passed around a fragmented network of local and national agencies. Some police forces offer little or no support to their local fraud victims, the researchers found.
They found:
•35pc of victims whose cases were being investigated by the police said the impact of the fraud upon them was severe or significant.
•78pc of fraud cases involved a suspect and a victim living in different police force areas.
•69pc of fraud cases investigated by police where cyber enabled and 43pc involved first contact being made online.
•In 69pc of forces all or most fraud investigations were carried out by non-specialist officers, even though the research found that specialist investigators handle cases more effectively.
•Just 0.8pc of the police workforce work in specialist economic crime teams, meaning a lack of dedicated resource for dealing with fraud.
•78pc of the police workforce said they needed more training to deal with fraud.
•74pc of police personnel said they do not have the time to effectively deal with fraud cases.
•86pc of police officers and staff thought fraud should be dealt with by specialists.
•28pc of police forces offer no service at all to their local fraud victims.
•65pc of police forces do not know how many victims of fraud contact them. In general victims are simply passed onto the national Action Fraud call centre, even though in some cases an immediate local response may be appropriate.
Despite being a third of all crime, the government has no national strategy for tackling fraud, the researchers point out. The last strategy was published in 2011 by the National Fraud Authority; since abolished.
Perpetuity Research and the Police Foundation are calling for an improved police response to victims of fraud. They recommend:
•The government should produce a national strategy for tackling fraud alongside a national fraud policing strategy.
•Local police forces should no longer be responsible for fraud investigations. Investigations should instead be handled by dedicated fraud `specialists, who need not be police officers, in regional fraud investigation units.
•There should be clear national guidance on what police forces should do when they are contacted by a victim of fraud.
•There should be a national framework for identifying vulnerable victims of fraud and all vulnerable victims should be referred to an expanded Economic Crime Victims Care Unit.
•Local police forces should focus on contacting vulnerable victims who need support and providing fraud prevention advice to residents.
Prof Martin Gill, pictured, Director of Perpetuity Research said: ‘With the growth of the internet fraud has changed from a corporate white collar crime to a volume crime affecting millions of victims. Fraud is often complex to investigate and the offender and victim may live in different police forces or even different countries. But we found it is far from a victimless crime, and even if the prospect of a conviction is unlikely the police could provide a much better service to the victim.’
At the Police Foundation, Director Dr Rick Muir said: ‘Fraud is a third of all crime but there is no national strategy for dealing with it. We have a local system of 43 police forces that is not set up to deal with a cross-border crime like fraud. This means that too often victims receive a much worse service from the police than they would get with other types of crime and investigations are carried out by local police forces that are over stretched and lack the specialist skills to investigate fraud. We are calling on the government to get a grip on this problem.’
For a 12-page summary of the findings click here.
Methods
The survey drew responses from 32 of the UK’s 43 police forces. In depth research in Kent, Essex and Avon and Somerset police forces followed. Perpetuity did 107 semi structured interviews with policymakers, leaders and practitioners; and a police workforce survey in two police forces with 405 responses. The researchers besides did analysis of national crime data (64,857 case allocations for investigation by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau to forces) and 25 local police investigation case files.
As the researchers point out, as for how the UK is dealing with fraud, victims report to their local police force or the central reporting hub, Action Fraud. Most forces refer victims straight to Action Fraud. Cases reported to Action Fraud are then assessed by the NFIB. Only a minority of cases reported will be allocated an investigation. The case will then be passed to the local police force where the suspect may live. Services offered to victims will depend on the priorities of their local force.
Comment
Brett Beranek, Vice-President & General Manager, Security and Biometrics Line of Business at Nuance Communications, said these findings are the latest in a long line of evidence demonstrating the need for increased security. “When it comes to fraud, prevention is better than a cure and to relieve some of the pressures on the criminal justice system organisations and consumers alike need to be one step ahead. After all, cyber criminals are more sophisticated, more skilled and more determined than ever before.
“Whilst there is not and never will be one single silver bullet for fighting fraud, biometrics is a proven, effective authentication factor and fraud tool. In fact, Infiniti Research estimates that voice biometrics can address 90 per cent of fraud in a voice channel, as well as 80 per cent of fraud in a mobile channel. This type of authentication leverages more than 100 unique speech characteristics including physical attributes – such as size and shape of your nasal passage – and behavioral attributes- like accent, pronunciation and the speed at which you talk. This is why organisations which use call centres – such as banks or telecoms providers – are increasingly moving towards biometrics for authentication instead of the traditional knowledge-based security question.”
