Call for Government to ‘do more’ to tackle fraud epidemic

Fraud prevention service Cifas has officially launched its ‘Fraud Pledges 2024’ with proposals requesting that the government commit to reforms and prevention strategies that better protect communities and businesses from fraud.

Fraud represents approximately 38% of all crime in England and Wales and has more than doubled in Scotland over the past nine years, recent statistics from the government’s ‘Stop! Think Fraud’ campaign revealed.

However, only 1% of policing resources are allocated to tackling this issue that not only severely harms victims personally and financially but also negatively impacts the UK’s economy and funds serious organised crime.

Helena Wood, Director of Public Policy for Cifas and Cifas CEO Mike Haley formally delivered the pledges document to 10 Downing Street on 15th May. The reforms challenge the government to “do more” and provide greater counter-fraud assurances.

The Cifas Fraud Pledges are:

• Provide cross-government leadership in the response to fraud
• Improve the policing response to fraud
• Enhance support to victims of fraud
• Make the criminal justice response fit for tackling 21st Century fraud
• Require social media and online platforms to join the multi-sector response to fraud

Following a Cifas-commissioned survey of 2,000 UK voters, over a quarter (27%*) felt the proposal to modernise the criminal justice system (Pledge number 4) was the ‘most important’ of all five pledges.

Mike Haley, CEO of Cifas, said “The Government’s 2023 Fraud Strategy was a good starting point, however, more needs to be done to tackle the epidemic of fraud. Our pledges set out the next generation of fraud reforms for a future government.”

Helena Wood, Director of Public Policy at Cifas, commented: “Fraud is the crime to which UK adults are most likely to fall victim. We must prioritise this by creating a specific Minister for Economic Crime, providing ring-fenced resources for policing, and by ensuring social media and tech companies work with the counter-fraud community closely to fight fraud.”

Backing the Cifas’ Fraud Pledges 2024 is Kathryn Westmore, Senior Research Fellow at Royal United Services Institute said “While the UK seems to have got off the starting blocks, it will need to accelerate its efforts to keep up with ever-changing threat of fraud. Cifas’ Fraud Pledges 2024 reforms demonstrate how the UK’s response to fraud could evolve to strengthen the UK’s defences and provide better outcomes to victims.”