UK national fraud and cybercrime reporting centre Action Fraud is being scrapped, the government said in its Beating Crime Plan.
This comes after an undercover investigation by The Times in 2019 revealed that the centre’s telephone handlers were being trained to mislead victims into thinking their cases would be investigated, while they were almost never looked at.
According to the newspaper, as few as one-in-50 reports actually led to a fraudster being caught and that only one-in-200 police officers were assigned to fraud investigations.
This prompted the Home Office to commission a review of fraud policing in the UK, led by former deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Sir Craig Mackey.
The report was published in January 2020 supporting the discoveries of the British newspaper and called for a radical change as the police was not adequately equipped to deal with fraud crimes.
In its plan for beating crime, the UK government said that Action Fraud is going to be replaced by an improved reporting system and that an additional force dedicated to cybercrime will be set up within the National Crime Agency (NCA) to investigate the more complex and serious cases.
The National Economic Crime Victim Care Unit will be expanded as well, and its public communications will be made “more coherent and coordinated”.
System updates
A City of London Police spokesperson said to International Adviser: “The City of London Police, as national lead force for fraud, continue to strive to improve the victim experience, and maximise opportunities for law enforcement, and its partners, to reduce harm and prevent fraud.
“In support of this, and to benefit from new available technologies which can help us cope with increased demand, work is already well-underway to create a new and improved system for reporting fraud and analysing those reports.
“Our contract with IBM, who currently provide the system used by Action Fraud, the national fraud and cybercrime reporting centre, and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB), expires in 2022. Since this service was last procured in 2015, technology has advanced and demand has grown considerably.
“The system we need must be designed and procured carefully, with input at every stage from those that use the system and those that will benefit from the system improving.
“We are speaking to a number of different companies who believe they have the best solution for what we require.”
