The UK government has announced a (much-delayed) new national “Fraud Strategy” – the first since 2011 – with much fanfare, claiming new measures will crack down on cold calls, spam texts, while 400 specialist officers and the help of intelligence agencies in pursuing the overseas criminal networks behind such scams will help catch and punish criminals.
But it is it enough, and will it work? Not by a long shot, argues our Head of Advocacy Charles Bott KC, who says that tackling fraud has been under-resourced and off the radar as a government priority for far too long.
Charles tells Law360 UK: “There are some sensible proposals here, but they are in limited areas and don’t begin to match the scale of the problem.
“Fraud investigation has been pitiful in the UK for many years and hasn’t been a priority for government or the police.
“Action Fraud became a fraud on the public. Shockingly high fraud figures aren’t included when ministers claim crime is falling. We need something far more radical than what’s being proposed here to make a real difference.
“Serious fraud, which undermines markets and financial systems, is almost out of reach at the moment and nothing in these proposals will change that.”
Read more at Law360 UK (£ subscription) here.
View the UK’s new Fraud Strategy here.