Fraud is now the most common crime
FRAUD u sed t o b e s een a s a ‘ victimless’ c rime. Make n o m istake, a t t he C ity o f L ondon P olice we have never agreed with that narrative. And public opinion is now recognising the emotional — as well as financial — harm caused b y t his m ost p revalent o f c rimes.
The s ad f act i s t hat y ou a re m ore l ikely t o b e the victim of fraud than any other type of crime. And while the internet has brought a wealth of opportunities, it has also allowed fraud t o f lourish: t he c riminal c an t arget p eople nationally and internationally, yet never have t o l ook a v ictim i n t he e ye.
Proceeds are then used to fund serious and organised crime gangs, allowing them to finance the sale of drugs, weapons and m odern s lavery.
City of London Police is policing’s National Lead Force for fraud. We work closely with partners a nd o ther l aw-enforcement a gencies to provide a linked-up response to tackle it. We h ost t he n ational r eporting c entre, A ction Fraud, which receives reports of fraud and cyber crime. And we run the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB), responsible for assessing these reports, linking similar ones and identifying viable lines of inquiry for police f orces t o i nvestigate.
With more than 320,000 frauds reported to Action Fraud last year, police forces can’t investigate every one. But all reports matter in h elping u s t o s pot c omplex p atterns.
In the first few months of the Covid-19 p andemic, t here w ere m ore t han 2 ,500 r eports to Action Fraud and losses exceeded £8m illion, mostly in online fraud. We were able to identify m ore t han 1 ,700 f raudulent t elephone numbers, websites and email addresses that we could disrupt, saving many more people from b ecoming v ictims.
Working with the National Crime Agency and other police forces, City of London Police co-ordinated an operation on courier fraud at the b eginning o f t he y ear, w hich h as r esulted in 1 00 a rrests.
Anyone c an b e a v ictim o f f raud, a nd n o o ne should feel too embarrassed to report it; scams c an b e s ophisticated a nd c onvincing.
If you receive an unsolicited call, email or text message, stop and think. Are you being asked for personal information or financial details? If so, don’t respond. Only a criminal will t ry t o r ush y ou i nto m aking a d ecision.
And if you do fall victim please report it to Action F raud ( 0300 1 23 2 040 o r action fraud. police.uk).