Police and Crime Commissioners from across the UK gathered in London in October for a state-of-the nation briefing and discussion about economic crime.
The City of London Police, the national police lead for economic crime, hosted the event with the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners and City of London Corporation. Presentations were from City of London Police Commissioner, Adrian Leppard, Home Office ministers Norman Baker MP and James Brokenshire MP, and the Director of the National Crime Agency’s Economic Crime Command, Trevor Pearce. All PCC attendees and Chief Constables were sent local threat assessments from the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, outlining the nature and scale of fraud and how the most vulnerable are being targeted.
The aim; to raise awareness of the impact of economic crime locally, consider the response at local, regional and national levels and garner support for counter-fraud initiatives.
The importance of fraud reporting was also stressed, with crime figures last month showing a 21pc increase in recorded fraud in the past year, and a 58pc rise since 2008.
ACPO , APCC views
Tony Lloyd, Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner and Chairman of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) said: “Being a victim of fraud can be devastating. On top of that victims often feel confused and frustrated about how cases are handled and that they aren’t taken seriously. This is unacceptable and we have to get the investigation of fraud right for victims. Fraud is often used by criminal gangs to fund drug dealing and human trafficking and too often victims are some of the most vulnerable people in our local communities.”
The volume of fraud crime is growing in its complexity, diversifying in nature and spreading its reach across the UK, according to the ACPO National Co-ordinator for Economic Crime.
Commander Steve Head was today responding to the latest crime figures that revealed in the year to June 230,335 fraud offences were reported to the police and Action Fraud, a 21% increase on the previous year and a 59% rise since 2008.
“Fraud has a detrimental impact on people from all walks of life that live and work within our local communities. The apparent rate of increase should be of concern to us all and is attracting considerable attention from Government, regulatory bodies, business, individuals, the police service and media.
“Fraud is far from being the ‘victimless crime’ that it is often portrayed and the local impact from rapidly emerging national and trans-national trends on members of local communities and businesses of all sizes have not always been fully recognised or realised.”
Commander Steve Head stressed that there are a number of complex reasons underlying the increase in recorded frauds, and that in part they represent the success of the national fraud reporting system which is allowing victims to report fraud more quickly and easily via the telephone or by going online.
Commander Head said: “One of the most important steps we have to take in this country if we want to properly tackle fraud is to understand the true scale and nature of the threat we face. In order to do this we need victims to have the confidence to come forward and report their crimes and we need to develop sophisticated intelligence sharing platforms such as the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau where the private sector can share their fraud reports with us as well. These figures partly reflect the fact that over the last few years we are making significant progress in achieving this objective.
“Since 2010 we have worked with the Home Office to create bespoke new fraud reporting mechanisms for the victims of fraud, encouraging them to go to Action Fraud with their reports, which are then being passed to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau for analysis, disruption and informing criminal investigations by local forces, as well as forming the basis of hundreds of public and private sector fraud prevention alerts.
“In April 2013 we reached the point where all fraud reporting happens via the Action Fraud call centre or web portal. A year on from that – six months from now – I would expect us to have an even fuller picture of fraud offending in the UK.”
However, Commander Head also acknowledged that rapidly evolving technology and a continuing shift towards people conducting more and more of their personal and professional business online is now more than ever giving criminals new opportunities to commit fraud on a massive scale.
“What these figures undoubtedly also reveal is that fraudsters, often operating as part of organised crime gangs, are exploiting the technological revolution to anonymously target people, both at work and at home.
“This is borne out by the fact that in the first quarter of 2013/14 almost 80 per cent of Action Fraud reports received by the NFIB were E-crime related – either cyber crime or internet enabled fraud – and online shopping fraud consistently features as a significant reported fraud. Something for us all to consider as we approach Christmas.
“The police service and the Government are together responding to this changing reality, at the highest level with the establishment of the National Crime Agency and the introduction of a Serious Organised Crime Strategy, right down to the way that fraud detectives are now being recruited and trained in forces across the UK.
“Only by taking this holistic approach across both the public and private sector can we expect to once and for all destroy the myth that fraud victims have somehow brought this crime upon themselves and thus stop fraud being a potentially hidden crime type with significant underreporting by individuals and businesses alike. Then we can turn the tide against fraud in all its forms and, in the next few years start to see a recorded decline.”
– See more at: http://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/CityPolice/Media/News/181013-increaseinrecordedfraud.htm#sthash.FaJ8Zv4N.dpuf
Visit: http://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/
