Fight goes on against scammers preying on Covid

A TOTAL of 67 suspected fraudsters were arrested in the first half of this year in the battle against the growing tide of financial fraud.

Several of those arrested were involved in scams exploiting the pandemic, according to the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU), a specialist fraud team funded by the banking and finance industry. The unit prevented around £85 million from being stolen from the public, up from £20million for the whole of last year. In addition, 24 organised criminal gangs were ‘disrupted’.

The DCPCU is made up of officers from the City of London Police and Metropolitan Police Service – and staff from banking industry association UK Finance.

They have been fighting a growing number of fraud cases as criminals seek to profit from the pandemic. One criminal was sentenced to more than four years in prison for sending thousands of scam texts purporting to be from the NHS about a vaccine, which he then used to harvest people’s personal and financial details. Cases of scams, which involve fraudsters pretending to be from a bank or official organisation, have more than doubled in the first half of this year, to 33,115.

A total of £129.4million was stolen through this type of fraud alone, up from £57.9million over the same period last year. Temporary commander Clinton Blackburn, from the City of London Police, warns that criminals continue to use the pandemic to prey on people’s fears. He says: ‘It’s essential the public remains vigilant before parting with any money or personal details.’

The Mail on Sunday has fought for more resources to be employed in our ‘Nail the scammers’ campaign.