The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the thought leader as an individual, and are not attributed to CeFPro or any particular organization.
By Alex Rothwell, Detective Chief Superintendent, City of London Police
In what ways have fraudulent threats and techniques increased?
In policing we have 56 separate classifications for fraud types which illustrates the complex nature of offending and the diversity of methodology used. There are multiple sources of information on the scale and volume of fraud which can at times be confusing or conflicting. The threat picture for fraud from a UK policing perspective however is primarily informed by members of the public reporting crime through our national reporting centre Action Fraud which handles over 1.1 million contacts a year at a reported loss of £2.35 billion. In the 2020/2021 financial year, recorded crime rose by 2% overall although The Office for National Statistics also conducts a regular crime survey in England and Wales and fraud figures consistently demonstrate that approximately only one in five people report fraud to police, albeit those that don’t report typically have suffered lower value losses.
