INTERVIEW: With forces facing a range of competing priorities in fighting crime, a dedicated high-harm fraud unit set up by Thames Valley Police is supporting victims and securing convictions against fraudsters targeting vulnerable elderly people with romance and courier fraud, as DI Duncan Wynn explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

INTERVIEW: In this second half of a two-part interview, City of London Police Temporary Commissioner Peter O’Doherty spoke to Policing Insight’s James Sweetland about the challenges posed by fraud and cybercrime, the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence and a national approach to new technology, and why the Police Service of Northern Ireland data breach has implications for all forces.

INNOVATION: Cybercrime is a challenge for all businesses, but it’s an especially complex one for smaller companies to take on; in an exclusive interview with Policing Insight’s James Sweetland, Ian Hickling and Jonathan Green explain how free Home Office-funded tool Police CyberAlarm might form part of the answer – and help police to develop the “actionable intelligence” needed to deal with online threats.

INTERVIEW: In the second half of an exclusive two-part interview with Policing Insight’s James Sweetland, Temporary Assistant Commissioner Nik Adams – the City of London Police lead for fraud and cybercrime – explored the policing response to offences which now constitute nearly 50% of all crime in England and Wales, including the launch of the Government’s National Fraud Strategy and a £150million overhaul of Action Fraud.

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.

FEATURE: The first five-year strategy to tackle fraud, economic and cyber crime was recently published by the City of London Police – the lead force on the issue for England and Wales – in an effort to redress a decade of ‘deprioritising’ fraud compared to other crimes; the strategy looks to improve the service to victims, prevent the continuing escalation of fraud, and secure more successful justice outcomes, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

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ANALYSIS: Defined as an offence committed by insiders (including employees and managers) who abuse their position for personal gain, policing – as with all organisations – suffers instances of insider fraud, but the impact of such crimes can be significant; recent UK research by Dr Rasha Kassem, Senior Lecturer at Aston University, highlights the wide variety of offences – ranging from the sale of data to sexual exploitation and commercial conflicts of interest – and suggests steps that the service can take to tackle the issue.

OPINION: Although artificial intelligence (AI) tools have been used across society for several years, their increasing adoption by criminals poses new threats and challenges; Lancaster University Professor of Cyber Security Daniel Prince outlines four criminal uses of AI that could exploit victims, and how healthy scepticism can help to protect society from harm.

FEATURE: With support from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, a women and policing network is encouraging and empowering female officers and staff in the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service; Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend spoke to DCO Nancy Barnard and Supt Wendy Parchment about efforts to increase female representation, and the Island’s unique culture, heritage and policing challenges which create opportunities for women officers.

FEATURE: The new National Fraud Strategy has been welcomed by many, especially as the last full national plan expired back in 2011; but alongside the resources the new strategy provides – including 400 investigators and a new reporting service – it comes with a tough target to cut fraud offences by 10% in just over two years, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

FEATURE: A series of workshops for UK and international delegates on key policing issues has developed recommendations to tackle some of today’s toughest policing challenges; ahead of next week’s London Policing College International Conference, where the proposals will be further debated and refined, College Managing Director and former Met Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Rod Jarman outlines the workshop outcomes, the recommendations to date, and the potential benefits for policing.

OPINION: In the US, like other countries, identity theft is a burgeoning crime, but the nature of the offence and the difficulty in dealing with criminal activity that may traverse different national and international jurisdictions can mean that responses are inconsistent, and victims feel unsupported; David Smith, an independent consultant for the SmartCard Institute, looks at some of the steps policing and lawmakers can take to improve that response.

FEATURE: The launch in March of the Police Foundation’s influential Strategic Review of Policing in England and Wales was heralded by many as an opportunity to rethink and reset some of the key policing parameters, aims and approaches; ahead of next month’s conference focusing on the Review, Canterbury Centre for Policing Research Director Dr Martin O’Neill revisits some of those recommendations, and considers a few of the important questions that will be debated over the two days.

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.

FEATURE: The latest report from consultants PwC has highlighted the risks posed by external rather than internal fraud, as organised crime and other entities look to exploit a perfect storm of environmental, geopolitical, financial and social pressures; the survey also urges departments in US organisations to adopt a “unified approach”, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: The UK findings from the latest Global Economic Crime Report published by analysts PwC has highlighted that fraud now poses “a greater and more costly threat than ever before” to UK companies; supply chain fraud has also emerged as a significant new risk across the commercial sector, yet many businesses seemingly unprepared or unwilling to respond to the threat, as Policing Insight Deputy Editor Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: A new survey of UK counter-fraud teams has highlighted a surging crime generating huge volumes of data, with specialists struggling to secure investment in technology and recruit staff; but despite the challenges, the report also points to pockets of best practice and opportunities to improve prevention, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

FEATURE: The COVID-19 pandemic has seen an increase in cybercrime and online fraud, and with it a new, complex scam involving dating sites and cryptocurrencies; PhD candidate and Research Fellow Carlo Handy Charles explains how organised crime has pioneered the sophisticated ‘pig-butchering’ scams.

ANALYSIS: As well as changing society, the Covid pandemic has changed crime, as the disarray caused by rapidly introduced polices at national and international levels has presented all sorts of opportunities for criminals; Policing Insight’s Chris Allen examines one particular growth area of illicit activity – the sale of counterfeit COVID-19 passports.

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.

INTERVIEW: With organised crime and illegal financial transactions increasingly reliant on digital data and online activity, the work of the digital forensics team at Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the UK has become crucial in the fight against fraud and other crimes: Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend spoke to HMRC’s Head of Digital Forensics Colin Smith to find out more.

ANALYSIS: While banking and financial transactions move increasingly towards digital platforms, criminals are resurrecting a more traditional fraud – bank check theft – to build bitcoin profits and steal identities, as Georgia State University Criminology and Criminal Justice Professor David Maimon explains.

ANALYSIS: Fraud has been one of the biggest crime growth areas in the UK and internationally over the past five year, yet successive reports have highlighted an ineffective police response and a lack of support for victims; Portsmouth University Lecturer Paul Gilmour, a former police detective, examines why financial crimes are often the ‘poor relation’ when it comes to police investigation, and what can be done to address the challenges.