Beating fraud, it pays to talk
Fraud has been described as a “silent crime” but it is not a victimless crime – it costs the UK £30bn each year and costs
each adult £621 per year so Action Fraud, a national centre to report fraud and seek guidance and advice, is in operation
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| Payback – giving criminals cash to communities: GMP’s PC Rick Taylor (third left, back),
PC Dave Fenton (front left) and Chief Supt Caroline Ball (front right) pictured with youth club members |
Launched initially in
October 2009 in the
West Midlands area and
now rolled out across
the north-east of the country,
Action Fraud works closely
with the police and provides a
valuable link between forces
when criminals act across large
geographical areas.
Fraud has been described as
a “silent crime” but it is not a
victimless crime. It knows no
boundaries and deeply affects
tens of thousands of people in
the UK each year.
It is a crime that is second only
to the illegal drugs trade in terms
of its impact on the UK and, on
average, it costs each adult living
in the UK around £621 per year. However, the human cost is even
higher because proceeds of fraud
are often used to fund serious
crimes such as drug smuggling
and people trafficking.
Most victims of fraud do not
report the crime. Victims of
fraud often don’t want to talk
about what’s happened to them
because they feel embarrassed
and ashamed – fraudsters rely
on that silence.
But they can fight back by
talking. The National Fraud
Authority (NFA) has launched
Action Fraud, a national fraud
reporting centre that provides a
single point of contact for fraud
victims where they can both
report a fraud and seek guidance
and advice.
Chief executive of the NFA, Dr
Bernard Herdan, said: “Action
Fraud is at the heart of our
strategy to make the UK a more
hostile environment for fraud.
“Victims of fraud often don’t
want to talk about it because
they feel embarrassed. They not
only suffer a financial loss but a
loss of self-esteem because they
blame themselves for being taken
in. But the best way to fight fraud
and fraudsters is to get people
talking about it and reporting it to
Action Fraud.”
Action Fraud provides a clear
signpost for reporting all types
of fraud, including identity theft,
investment, credit card and
consumer fraud.
At the same time, it gives law
enforcement and counter-fraud
agencies better information to
better target fraudsters, better
protect the public and bring
criminals to justice by providing
vital information to the National
Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB).
This collaboration between the
police forces, the NFIB and Action
Fraud will help tighten the net on
fraudsters.
City of London
City of London Police is the
national lead force for fraud,
and is leading the implementation
of the NFIB. Commissioner
Mike Bowron explained: “One of
the biggest challenges we face in
combating fraud is the reluctance
of victims to come forward.
“People often feel they have
somehow ‘fallen’ for a scam
and hold some responsibility for
having lost money, but this is
simply not the case. These fraudsters
are sophisticated criminals
who use high-pressure sales
techniques to convince victims to
part with their cash.
“There is no shame in becoming
a victim and it is crucial that the
crime is reported, so that these
criminals can be caught. Action
Fraud, which we have worked
with the NFA to develop, will make
that reporting easier and make
life significantly more difficult for
fraudsters.”
Dorset
Dorset’s Detective Chief Superintendent
Richard Burkmar said:
“Action Fraud will support victims,
help prevent fraud and better
enable Dorset Police to investigate
crime by giving us access to
national intelligence.
“Fraudsters can target people
in Dorset regardless of where
they are based, so by providing a
national reporting centre we will
be in a much stronger position to
tackle fraud locally.”
Victim support
Victims can also gain access
to support by reporting fraud
to Action Fraud. Victim Support
helps thousands of fraud victims
every year and understands
just how devastating the consequences
of such a crime can be.
Up until now, most of their
referrals have come from the
police, but Action Fraud will also
be able to refer people to Victim
Support, who help every victim
of crime regardless of when it
happened, and whether or not it
has been reported to the police.
The National Fraud Authority
estimates that fraud costs the UK
£30 billion each year and targets
every section of society, young
and old, rich and poor, individuals
and businesses – everyone
is potentially at risk.
Research into victims’ experiences
was jointly led by the
Association of Chief Police
Officers (ACPO) and the NFA. The
research report – A Better Deal
for Fraud Victims: Research into
Victims’ Needs and Experience –
was conducted last summer.
Using face-to-face interviews,
focus groups and telephone
interviews, almost 800 victims
provided information about the
fraud activity committed against
them and their attitudes to the
support available.
This report adds to the growing
body of research and presents
new findings from surveys of the
largest group of fraud victims in
the UK to date.
Greater Manchester
A successful youth club in
North Manchester is benefiting
from £5,000 of criminals’
cash made available through
Payback, GMP’s project to ensure
criminal gains are taken from
criminals and ploughed back into
communities.
Since the set-up of the scheme
in September 2009, antisocial
behaviour on Friday evenings
has reduced. Between 30 and
50 teenagers attend the youth
club after school to play sport
and get to know their local police
officers.
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| Crooks’ cash: South Yorkshire gives £7,000 of criminals’ ill-gotten gains to help Sheffield boxing club |
Officers helped set up the
scheme with Andy Clarke, who
works as an Early Intervention
Behavioural Specialist within
schools in the area and leads the
youth club.
PC Dave Fenton said: “We
have received some really
good feedback from the local
community since the start of this
project. I go down to the youth club
most Fridays with PC Rick Taylor
and I thoroughly enjoy the time I
spend there.
“The level of interest in the club
has been fantastic and I have
developed really strong relationships
with these young people
and have even had expressions
of interest in joining the police.”
Andy Clarke said: “I am proud
of what we have achieved so
far, I am surprised at how well it
has worked. Each week officers
come down to the school and
get involved. In the early weeks
of the club, the lads really found
it difficult to interact with the
officers but now they know each
other on first-name terms.
The youth club is part of the
ongoing work across the North
Manchester division to tackle
antisocial behaviour under
Operation Synergy.
This operation runs every
Friday night with the help of youth
intervention officers and safety
co-ordinators to help tackle youth
nuisance, listen to residents
concerns and find alternative
activities for teenagers to take
part in.
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire’s Economic
Crime Unit manager, Graham
Wragg, said: “By working together,
Action Fraud and South Yorkshire
Police will be able to offer a better
level of service to the public and,
ultimately, bring more offenders
to justice.
“We also have the Why Should
They? campaign across the
Yorkshire and Humber region,
encouraging residents to ask the
question, why should criminals
be allowed to live a life of luxury
at the expense of others?
“I would encourage victims of
fraud or anyone who may suspect
fraud is taking to place to ask
these same questions and report
it to the police.”
South Yorkshire Police has
seen two high-profile fraud cases
come to successful climaxes. Operations Matrix and Metric saw
a total of 11 people convicted
and sentenced for fraud offences
after considerable efforts by the
force’s Economic Crime Unit.
Graham Wragg added: “Cases
such as these tend to be long and
complicated and in the future
Action Fraud will greatly assist in
helping the force to solve such
crimes and bring the criminals to
justice.”
Crooks cash
Tens of thousands of pounds
seized from crooks will be used to
fight crime and help communities
in South Yorkshire.
Recent government figures
revealed that South Yorkshire
Police is to receive just over £437,077 as a result of work
carried out under the Proceeds
of Crime Act between October
and December 2009.
The total is the third-highest in
England and Wales, with South
Yorkshire only surpassed by two
much larger forces – the Metropolitan
Police Service and West
Yorkshire Police.
The money will be used to fund
further POCA work, as well as
being ploughed back into local
communities through grants for
organisations and projects such
as diversionary activities. The
picture below shows a Sheffieldbased
boxing club receiving
a £7,000 grant from South
Yorkshire Police. Top Back to Features Home |