ANALYSIS: Fraud makes up nearly 40% of all crime in England and Wales, but fewer than 1% of cases result in a conviction. With the National Fraud Strategy more than a year old and a new government in place at Westminster, Ian Weinfass spoke to experts to find out whether it is time for action against fraudsters to be stepped up.
ANALYSIS: In this second article of a two-part series about the modern ransomware threat, Policing Insight’s James Sweetland examines how law enforcement tries to respond to this challenge and what role policing should play, drawing on exclusive interviews with the National Crime Agency, the National Cyber Security Centre and other experts.
INTERVIEW: In an exclusive two-part interview with Policing Insight’s James Sweetland, City of London Police Temporary Assistant Commissioner Nik Adams explains how artificial intelligence will transform fraud and cybercrime, what Action Fraud’s new replacement will do to improve the response to victims, and why calls for a single national force to tackle fraud are a major mistake.
INTERVIEW: After his first six months leading the National Cyber Resilience Centre Group – a not-for-profit partnership that enhances the cyber resilience of small businesses – Detective Superintendent Ian Kirby has ambitious plans for growth and a call to arms for police officers around cyber prevention, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.
INTERVIEW: Ahead of next week’s London Policing College workshop on cybercrime and fraud, workshop chair Dr Stuart Hyde (the former Chief Constable of Cumbria and a cybercrime specialist) talked to Policing Insight about the need for an improved government response to the challenge, the importance of collaboration between industry and policing, and why Action Fraud is currently not fit for purpose.
ANALYSIS: Fraud is now the most common crime in England and Wales, costing the UK economy £137bn each year; in this article, Richard Hyde, Scott Corfe and Bill Anderson-Samways of the Social Market Foundation (SMF) examine the inadequacy of police resource dedicated to tackling the problem, and call on the Government to take a comprehensive ‘systems approach’ to tackling fraud, enacting reforms that can endure over decades.
Feature: Urgent changes need to be implemented to fraud investigations to improve the level of service to victims, according to HMICFRS. Policing Insight Deputy Editor Sarah Gibbons looks at the recommendations to make this area of crime a higher priority.
Opinion: As the Police Foundation's latest research once again shines a light on policing's lacklustre response to fraud investigations, Policing Insight's Bernard Rix says sky-high statistics appear to have left the service too stunned to respond. Is the policing response to fraud the proverbial 'frog in boiling water'?
Analysis: Fraud accounts for a third of reported crime in England and Wales yet the number of cases investigated and prosecuted is tiny compared to the volume. As the Police Foundation publishes its latest research on improving the police response to fraud victims, Ian Dyson, Commissioner for the City of London Police which leads nationally on fraud, says things are changing.
