'We have a 1960s local police structure trying to fight a 21st century cyber-enabled crime'

CALLS FOR MAJOR OVERHAUL OF HOW POLICE DEAL WITH FRAUD, AS REPORT FINDS VICTIMS ARE BEING LET DOWN BY AN OUTDATED SYSTEM

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VICTIMS of fraud are being let down as UK policing tries to battle “21st century cyber-enabled cross-border crime” in a localised system set up in the 1960s, a report has found.

Think tank the Police Foundation has called for a major overhaul of how law enforcement deals with fraud, which makes up around 40 per cent of total crime in Britain.

In the year to December 2024, there were an estimated 4.1 million incidents of fraud, up a third on the previous year, according to the annual Crime Survey for England and Wales.

The Police Foundation report, published on Thursday, made a series of recommendations, including setting up a UK Crime Prevention Agency and a national policing body to deal with fraud.

The issue should be dealt with at a UK level alongside terrorism and serious and organised crime, including economic and cyber offences, it said.

It also called upon regional mayors and police and crime commissioners to take a so-called public health approach to fraud - raising awareness about how to avoid being scammed.