Police ‘must triple fraud squad size’

As top watchdog calls for more specialists, he admits officers don’t take the crime seriously

BRITAIN must ‘at least’ triple the number of fraud investigators to tackle the epidemic of scams, a senior police watchdog has said.

HM Inspector of Constabulary Matt Parr admitted that fraud was not considered a priority by police despite it being a ‘cruel and devastating’ crime.

He called for an urgent review of police recruitment and said it was no longer acceptable ‘to just shrug our shoulders and say s*** happens’.

It comes amid warnings that the Government is still recruiting the wrong kind of police officers to tackle fraud, despite repeated warnings that forces do not have enough specialists.

The Daily Mail revealed yesterday that Britain has become the global capital of fraud, with recorded losses rocketing to almost £3 billion a year. The Mail is campaigning for a major overhaul to the system, starting with the appointment of a minister for fraud.

We are also demanding that police make tackling fraud a priority and boost the number of specialist investigators.

Last night Labour and the Lib Dems backed the Mail’s campaign. Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the Government was ‘failing to take fraud seriously’.

She added: ‘It’s a scandal that victims of fraud are being effectively ignored and denied

‘Police can’t just shrug their shoulders’

proper protection or justice. This is a really important campaign from the Mail as urgent action is needed.’

Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael demanded ‘ a far stronger response from the Government... led by a dedicated fraud minister’. He added: ‘Vile criminals are lining their pockets and causing immense harm, and this Government is letting them get away with it.’

Mark Shelford, the lead police commissioner for economic and cyber crime in England and Wales, described the Mail’s campaign as ‘terrific’.

He also revealed that he was told by colleagues not to ‘touch’ the fraud job because ‘it is too bloody difficult, you can’t make a difference and it’ll just swamp your work’.

Mr Shelford, a former Army officer, said it was symptomatic of a wider attitude within the police towards fraud, but added: ‘ The supertanker is changing course.’

Fraud is the most common crime in England and Wales – constituting 39 per cent of offences in 2021 – but just 2 per cent of the police workforce is dedicated to fighting it.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) found in 2019 that one police force filed 96 per cent of the scam cases it received from the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) as requiring ‘no further action’.

Just one in 1,000 fraud offences resulted in a charge last year, according to analysis of the Office for National Statistics’ annual crime survey.

Mr Parr, a former rear admiral in the Royal Navy, said ‘a number of forces’ would try to ‘weed out’ intelligence packages they received from the NFIB, meaning fraud victims ‘ aren’t getting anything like the service they should get’. He said the current pool of police fraud specialists was a ‘long way off’ what was needed, despite it being just as ‘traumatic’ for victims as other crimes. He added: ‘I’m not sure I wouldn’t rather be on the wrong end of a fight in the pub, than on the wrong end of fraud.’

Mr Parr said it would be a ‘missed opportunity’ if the number of fraud investigators were not significantly increased during an ongoing police recruitment drive.

But experts warned the Home Office’s Uplift programme, launched in 2019 to return the number of officers to pre-austerity levels, is failing to do this. The hiring spree is aimed at boosting ‘generalist’ constables, but isn’t tackling a severe shortage of specialists in areas including cyber crime and fraud, according to the Police Foundation think-tank.

Mr Parr admitted a major problem for police was fraud investigators being poached by the private sector. Last year, the Treasury select committee heard that investigators were leaving the police out of frustration at the lack of resources, with many moving to banks and one even becoming a train driver.

Critics have also blamed the fragmented approach to tackling fraud, with at least 23 different agencies assigned to the task.

Under the Home Office, the City of London Police (CLP) takes the national lead for policing fraud and runs Action Fraud, where fraud cases are reported, and the NFIB, which analyses reports.

But these organisations lack sufficient staff, are underfunded, and their technical systems are outdated, according to the Social Market Foundation.

A government spokesman said: ‘We will not allow fraudsters to line their pockets with British people’s hard-earned cash. That is why the Government is developing a strategy to tackle the scourge of fraud, which be published later this year.’

Pete O’Doherty, CLP assistant commissioner, said: ‘We recognise the threat from fraud is increasing and are actively working with police forces and partners across the UK to improve the policing response.’