Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 8
8
Deferred
Victims experience significant difficulty reporting fraud due to unclear processes.
Conclusion
Many victims of fraud find it difficult to know how to report the crime. It needs to be made much clearer to victims how they can report a crime, as the current lack of clarity brings added distress to the process. We acknowledge that increasing awareness of Action Fraud will place increased pressure on the already stretched reporting service, but it is vital that victims feel able to report their crimes both for the individual to feel that they are being listened to, and also to help build a national picture of fraud crimes. (Paragraph 37) 38 Fraud and the Justice System
Government Response Summary
The government deflected the recommendation about making reporting clearer to victims, explaining existing inter-organisational structures for tackling fraud and stating further details would be included in its upcoming Fraud Strategy.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
How these organisations interact is set out in a number of places, including the National Lead Force for Fraud Agreement and the National Fraud Policing Strategy 2019, which set out the strategic framework, through which the City of London Police, National Economic Crime Centre, local forces and other law enforcement partners work collaboratively to tackle fraud. Further detail will be included in the Government’s Fraud Strategy that will be published shortly. The City of London Police (CoLP) is the National Lead Force for fraud, and the portfolio lead for economic and cyber crime. Their responsibilities are set out on GOV.UK. CoLP provides support to investigative teams nationally through the promotion of best practice, training and professional development, as part of its Economic and Cyber Crime Academy. The National Economic Crime Centre (NECC), supported by CoLP, is the whole system lead responsible for allocating cases to local and regional economic crime teams. These interorganisational links will be strengthened by the establishment of a national law enforcement network to tackle fraud. Investigating Fraud 1.2