Government to ‘take the fight’ to fraudsters with plans to block scams at source

The new fraud strategy will include banning cold calls on all financial products, such as those relating to insurance or sham cryptocurrency schemes, the Government said.

It also plans to work with Ofcom to use new technology to further clamp down on number “spoofing”, so fraudsters cannot impersonate legitimate UK phone numbers.

Under the plans, banks will also be allowed to delay payments from being processed for longer to allow for suspect payments to be investigated.

The Government said it will also ban other devices or methods commonly harnessed by scammers to reach thousands of people at once – such as so-called “sim farms” and review the use of mass texting services to keep these technologies out of the hands of criminals.

Sim farms are devices that can be loaded with hundreds of sim cards and are controlled from a computer. Fraudsters use them to send thousands of scam texts at once.

To make it easier for victims to report fraud and rebuild confidence that cases are being dealt with properly, a new system, replacing the current Action Fraud service, the UK’s fraud reporting centre, will be up and running within the year, the Government added.

Backed by a £30 million investment, it will provide a simpler route for reporting fraud online, with reduced waiting times and an online portal to allow victims to get timely updates on the progress of their case, the Government said.

The improved service will also ensure victims’ reports are acted upon more effectively, it added.

A new National Fraud Squad will overhaul how scams are investigated by taking a proactive, intelligence-led approach, backed by 400 new specialist investigators, the Government said.

Seventy per cent of fraud in the UK either starts overseas or has an international link, the Government said, adding that it will work bilaterally to raise fraud as a key priority.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “Scammers ruin lives in seconds, deceiving people in the most despicable ways in order to line their pockets.

“We will take the fight to these fraudsters, wherever they try to hide. By blocking scams at the source, boosting protections for people and bolstering enforcement, we will stop more of these cold-hearted crimes from happening in the first place and make sure justice is done.”

The Home Office said that while law enforcement is devolved, measures agreed with industry will have a UK-wide benefit. It said it will continue to ensure that collective issues are addressed collaboratively to maintain the UK’s resilience against fraud.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: “Fraud is a blight on our country with ruthless criminals scamming the British public out of their hard-earned cash.

“They exploit people’s trust and steal their life savings, shattering their confidence and leaving them feeling vulnerable. It also fuels serious organised crime and terrorism. Meanwhile scammers are adapting, taking advantage of new technology to prey on more victims.

“It is vital we adopt a new approach to this threat. The fraud strategy outlines how we will use all levers available to us – through government, law enforcement, industry and international partners – to track down these criminals, intercept their scams and bring them to justice.”

A new anti-fraud champion, Anthony Browne MP, has been appointed.

Mr Browne said: “The tech sector, phone companies and financial services firms must take responsibility for protecting their users by stopping fraud happening in the first place, and work together to design out fraud.

“We can use the technologies fraudsters are exploiting against them to stop them in their tracks, and I will work with industry to make sure that happens.”

The Government said it is working with tech companies to make it as simple as possible to report fraud online, whether it be scam adverts or bogus “celebrity endorsements”.

City of London Police Commissioner Angela McLaren said: “We welcome this strategy and the much needed investment to support our collective efforts to tackle fraud.

“As the national lead force for fraud, we want to do everything in our power, working with law enforcement and private sector partners across the UK, to protect people from this callous crime.”

“Tackling fraud requires a collective effort and we will continue to work with our partners across law enforcement and industry, doing everything in our power to pursue fraudsters and reduce the devastating harm they cause.”

Assistant Commissioner Pete O’Doherty added: “With more than half of all crime being fraud and cyber-related, this strategy is essential to policing. We tackle and coordinate some of the most complex fraud cases across the country.

“But the national policing response to economic crime has been under powered. This new strategy, with fraud now being included in the Strategic Policing Requirement, means that we can improve and coordinate the local to national response in order to stop fraudsters and better protect victims, ending the misery and devastation criminals cause.”

Within the fraud landscape, the Home Office is the overall policy and strategic system lead on fraud against individuals and businesses. The National Crime Agency (NCA), through the National Economic Crime Centre, is the operational system lead working across UK law enforcement, the intelligence community and industry.

City of London Police, as national lead force for fraud, leads and coordinate the efforts of the Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs) and 43 police forces in England and Wales. Local police forces across the UK and ROCUs in England and Wales will continue to be responsible for the vast majority of fraud investigations in the UK, as well as leading on support for victims and businesses in their local areas.

The Serious Fraud Office will continue to use its specialist investigatory structures and powers to tackle highly complex frauds.

James Thomson, chair of the City of London Police Authority Board, said: “The Government’s fraud strategy is a significant step forward in the fight against cyber criminals. Fraud has a devastating impact on victims and is one of the fastest growing areas of crime in the UK.

“If fully implemented, the measures set out today will strengthen public protection, prevent future victims, and help put fraudsters behind bars.

“The UK must ensure that the City and the wider national economy are the safest places to do business in the world. That is critical to safeguarding the public and to securing our nation’s competitiveness.”

The launch of the fraud strategy comes just over two months after an update to the Strategic Policing Requirement, which included fraud for the first time.

In addition to being the national lead force for fraud, City of London Police also hosts Action Fraud, the national fraud and cybercrime reporting service, and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau.

In 2021, the force announced that it would be creating a state-of-the art fraud and cybercrime reporting and analysis service (FCCRAS) to replace the current Action Fraud service to better coordinate reports of these crime types from across the country. The new service is expected to go live in mid-2024.

Graeme Biggar, Director-General of the NCA, said: “We want fraudsters to feel the same vulnerability they inflict upon their victims, as we target their infrastructure, expose their identities and bring them to justice.”

Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert, said: “The measures being planned here are a good first step in the right direction. They should improve prevention and prosecution, but it will be slow going.

“Ultimately this is all about putting enough resources in to build a dam to stop the flood. I hope we will see that happen.”