Why are fraudsters getting away with it?

Fraud offences have skyrocketed, making it the most prevalent crime in the UK. But it's far from the top of many police forces' priorities.

In the year ending March 2022 alone there were 4.5m offences, according to the Office for National Statistics. This is up from 3.4m in the year ending March 2017, a rise of 34% in five years. 

The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) received around 900,000 reports of fraud and cybercrime in 2020-21, but of these just 71,865 (8%) were disseminated to law enforcement for investigation. 

In 2021, just 4,488 cases of fraud made it to court, a minuscule fraction of the cases handled by the NFIB. 

Fraudsters, in other words, are largely getting away with it. 

To understand why, we talked to experts and asked police forces around the country how many officers they have on the case – and how many cases get solved.

The fraud epidemic

In a scathing report published in November 2022, the National Audit Office claimed the Home Office is clueless about the scale of the fraud threat, while MPs on the Justice Select Committee criticised ‘inadequate’ police efforts to fight fraud.

The current system for reporting fraud was described by then victims’ commissioner Dame Vera Baird as a confusing ‘alphabet soup’– and it’s easy to see why.

If you fall victim to a scam, you should first call your bank, as it may be able to stop money from being transferred and compensate you. 

But to report the case, you should also contact Action Fraud, the centralised reporting hub for fraud and cybercrime.

It then passes reports to the NFIB which decides the cases that warrant investigation by local police forces. The police then decide which of these cases to investigate. 

The exception is in Scotland, where you contact Police Scotland on 101 and it decides whether to pursue the case.

Only a tiny proportion of fraud cases ever make it to court

Fraud cases referred to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau vs court proceedings

In 2019, an undercover reporter for The Times found that call handlers at Action Fraud were misleading victims into believing all cases would be investigated, while a recent Justice Committee report found staff had ‘a lack of empathy for victims’. 

With police forces used to dealing with crimes in their local areas, and fraudsters often operating from other regions or countries, there is a need to co-ordinate various forces’ efforts. But the number of different agencies involved has made it difficult to know where the chain of command and responsibility sits.

‘There are so many different agencies and a real lack of communication and co-ordination going on between them,’ says Mike Haley, chief executive of Cifas, a fraud prevention service which manages a large fraud database and promotes data sharing to reduce instances of fraud and financial crime.

• Find out more: What to do if you’re the victim of a bank transfer scam 

Officers ‘intimidated’ by fraud cases

The importance attached to fighting fraud is reflected in the proportion of police funding it receives – just 2%, according to the Justice Committee.

The City of London Police (CoLP) is designated as the national lead police force on fraud, however Haley has criticised the CoLP for focusing on protecting business. ‘They’re funded by industry to protect industry – they don’t really care if you or I get scammed.’ 

When we put these criticisms to the CoLP commander, Nik Adams, he confirmed that some units are funded by industry to tackle particular crimes where businesses are the victim. ‘But, ultimately, they are there to investigate crimes against the public and our focus is on putting victims at the heart of everything we do,' he added. Decisions on whether to investigate are based on ‘investigative and operational criteria’ set by the police.

However, detective inspector Mark Riley, from the Lancashire Police Economic Crime Unit, told us many police forces simply don’t prioritise fraud cases, which often get buried under crimes with a higher profile.

‘Fraud just isn’t up there with other crime types really, compared with the likes of serious sexual assaults and county lines investigations,’ says DI Riley. 

‘As a result, we’ve not got as many resources around fraud. I think a lot of officers also get intimidated by fraud cases – they’re not as confident in dealing with it compared with, say, an assault outside a nightclub.’

• Find out more: sign up to our free scam alert service

Police resourcing

In the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, of a staff of 5,243, just 25 officers (0.5%) are on the fraud beat, our freedom of information request revealed. 

Yet Devon and Cornwall is slightly above average when it comes to the size of its fraud desk; as the below table reveals, many forces have far fewer specialists.

Source: Which? FOI/Home Office

*In Scotland, fraud is dealt with by Financial Investigation Units, but as these units also investigate other crimes, such as money laundering, they can't be compared directly with other forces.

Across the UK, according to the Justice Committee, there are only around 1,000 specialist fraud officers, and out of the 20,000 new police officers being recruited, only 380 will be fraud specialists.

CoLP police commander Adams notes: ‘We have to balance the probability of a successful investigation against the amount of work, the amount of loss and our limited resources.’

It’s not just police forces that lack resources: both Action Fraud and the NFIB, which sit within the CoLP, have been struggling. According to a 2019 review, ‘the NFIB has the capacity to review only about half of the 19,000 crimes with “viable lines of enquiry” that are reported every month’. 

When pressed on the resourcing of the NFIB, Adams said: ‘Do I think there are more crimes that could be sent out from the NFIB for investigation? Yes, I do.’

New fraud strategy on the way

Slowly but surely, there is a growing recognition of the scale of fraud – and that more needs to be done. 

The government’s upcoming 10-year fraud strategy will have a heavy focus on common scams, with better co-ordination between the government and the private sector.

Following the revelations around Action Fraud, the government has also confirmed plans to replace the organisation, setting aside £30m to support the replacement service.

The Home Office told us: ‘This government is absolutely committed to cracking down on fraud and economic crime, spending an additional £400m over the next three years to bolster law enforcement’s response.’

The CoLP’s Adams says he has been working to get fraud pushed up the list of policing priorities. As a result, fraud now features in every police and crime plan, and in force performance reports.

Adams is also working with the College of Policing to make sure every detective is trained in how to investigate fraud.

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A more radical overhaul

For some experts, these measures don’t go far enough. Several groups are pushing for a more radical overhaul of the government and law enforcement’s approach to fraud.

Rusi, a defence and security think tank, along with Cifas, want to see a single organisation lead the national response to fraud, with the authority to bring together law enforcement and the private sector. 

Both have named the National Economic Crime Centre as the ideal candidate, although Rusi would maintain the CoLP as the policing lead.

Rusi has also been pushing for the creation of regional ‘superhubs’, with specialist fraud teams focused on delivering threat-based interventions against high-harm networks. To fund this, Rusi wants a ring-fenced government grant of at least £250m a year by 2030.

In response to the Justice Committee’s report, the government has pledged to roll out fraud teams across the ROCUs.

However the new strategy to stop fraud turns out, it’ll be judged by the number of arrests, prosecutions - and future victims.

‘So often I hear this saying that you can’t arrest your way out of the fraud problem,’ complains Cifas’ Hayley. ‘My retort is that if you don’t arrest anyone, it becomes what we see now – a low-risk and high-reward crime.’

What to do if you become a victim of fraud

Taking the following steps gives you a better chance of getting your money back, and warning other potential victims:

If you are in immediate danger dial 999

You should contact the police in the first instance if you or someone you know is in immediate danger.

Report fraud to your bank or payment provider

If you’ve lost money to a scam and you paid with a credit or debit card, or sent money through an account transaction, tell your bank or payment provider as soon as possible. Most have a dedicated fraud hotline, the number for which you can find online.

For scams where money was taken from your account, you're legally entitled to your money back.

Where you sent money to a fraudster, you may be able to get your money back.

Report the scam to Action Fraud

Action Fraud is the fraud and cybercrime reporting centre for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. 

You can report any attempt to steal your money or personal information to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040 Monday to Friday 8am-8pm, or you can use their online reporting tool which is available 24/7.

If you live in Scotland then you should report your case to Police Scotland by dialling 101.