On 3 December 2012, Action Fraud was rolled out to forces in the south east as a one-stop shop for fraud reporting. It has since gone live in every police force across the country and now deals with all fraud reports centrally.
Action Fraud was introduced as part of the Attorney General’s Fraud Review in 2006 and as part of the Cyber Crime Strategy, presented to parliament in 2011. After a successful pilot scheme in five other forces, it was rolled out nationally.
National figures suggest fraud costs the country £73 billion a year, based on the crimes that are reported and recorded. Action Fraud aims to reduce that cost and the bureaucracy on police officers filling in forms, as well as enhancing the quality of targeted investigation and preventative activity.
Anyone who needs to reports a fraud should call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or fill out the fraud reporting from on their website. Action Fraud will take the report and provide them with a national crime reference number. There is also a dedicated email address for people to contact and receive updates on their fraud report.
Of the thousands of reports Action Fraud has taken, about fifteen per cent actually result in a fraud crime being recorded. However, all information gathered is provided daily to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) at the City of London Police where it is analysed, alongside other information reported from government departments, financial institutions, and other large organisations.
The NFIB will then send any crimes where there is actionable intelligence or viable lines of enquiry to individual forces to investigate.
The only exceptions to this, when police should be called rather than Action Fraud will be; if the crime is taking place with an offender either at or near the scene at the time the report is being made, or the victim/person reporting the fraud is vulnerable, or if significant evidence will be lost if the police don’t attend the report straight away. In these exceptions the report can be made directly to Thames Valley Police who will respond in the usual manner.
There are a number of benefits for victims under the scheme, including a single point of contact for all victims of fraud in the Thames Valley and Action Fraud identifying repeat and vulnerable victims.
Read our Action Fraud webpage for more information and leaflets about the scheme, links to other useful websites, and victim information, or visit the Action Fraud website.
