Yesterday, the Government released its brand new Fraud Strategy, which will take a trifold approach to tackling fraud by stopping scams reaching people, bringing more perpetrators to justice and empowering communities to better protect themselves.
Responding to the strategy, Emma Jones, Assistant Director for Victim Services at Catch22 said:
“The Government’s fraud strategy is a much-welcome step in the right direction towards tackling what has become the UK’s major crime type. Many of the people our Victim Services support are those who have been targeted by cold-callers, text scams and app fraud, so we’re pleased that addressing these are a priority for the government.
“We are also glad that the Government will be recruiting 400 new specialist investigators to support in bringing perpetrators to court and justice to more victims. However, we question whether this additional resource will be enough, given it still will not come close to matching the proportion of all crime which fraud represents (40%).
“We would also urge the Government to be bolder in ensuring that victims of fraud do not face a post-code lottery in accessing quality support services.”