2021 Publications

In the business plan, the FCA sets out how it intends to become a more innovative, assertive and adaptive regulator to enable it to address the challenges that it now faces. This will involve significant changes to the FCA's own operations and approach to regulation, with a particular focus on using data more effectively and a new accountability framework, with specified outcomes and metrics for measuring the FCA's progress on those outcomes. From April 2022, the FCA will report on its progress against these outcomes and metrics.

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The pandemic showed the power of data in supporting innovative responses to the challenges society faced, notably through national exposure notification apps and contact tracing. This annual report includes details of the ICO’s role in providing advice and expertise to Government and public authorities on these projects, ensuring the consideration of people’s rights was built in at an early stage of their development. The report also outlines work to promote data sharing in the pandemic response, protect vulnerable people from COVID-19 related scams and frauds, and provide privacy information to the public around COVID-19 related issues.

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The topic is a significant issue for companies and has been the subject of debate following numerous calls for the Government to explore again the question of when criminal liability should be attributed to companies.

Concern has been expressed that the identification principle does not adequately deal with misconduct carried out by and on behalf of companies, and does not strike an appropriate balance. In particular, some have suggested that it has proved disproportionately difficult to prosecute large companies such as banks for economic crimes committed in their names, by relatively senior managers, for the company’s benefit

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The report uses intelligence from across law enforcement, government, the third sector and private industry to set out the UK's understanding of the threat posed by organised criminals. While the National Strategic Assessment highlights that the environment in which the NCA and partners operate has become more challenging as criminals adapted during the pandemic and exploited rapid advances in technology, the NCA has also had its most successful 12 months for disrupting key threats.

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This update comes at the midpoint of the Plan, covering the period from July 2019 to February 2021, and highlights some of the key achievements by the public and private sectors in delivering against the seven strategic priorities. Tackling economic crime, illicit finance and fraud continues to remain a priority of the Government’s agenda, as set out in the March 2021 Integrated Review which highlights the ongoing necessity for more to be done to tackle the growing threat of fraud, so that we can close the operational, legal and regulatory vulnerabilities that are exploited by criminals.

The survey is a quantitative and qualitative analysis of how UK businesses and charities respond to cyber security threats and the impact of these threats on their operations. The purpose of the survey is to assist these organisations in future planning and, also, to inform government on possible policy reform in this area. The survey continues to identity cybercrime as a significant problem and also considers the impact of COVID-19 on cyber security.

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The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Economic Crime Strategy provides a high-level vision of where the CPS want to be by 2025, helping to focus their work where it really matters. The strategy is supported by a commitment to ensure the right person is prosecuted for the right offence in a timely manner, victims and witnesses are at the heart of our casework and any proceeds of crime are recovered. It represents a clear articulation of the role the CPS will play in contributing to improving criminal justice outcomes in economic crime.

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Pindrop Pulse presents the latest findings on fraud from Pindrop® Labs in the 2021 Voice Intelligence and Security Report. Inside this report, you will find the latest contact centre fraud rates and newest fraud tactics, including how fraudsters use the IVR as a gateway to cross-channel fraud. We will examine how contact centres were impacted by fraud, a global pandemic, and a host of other external factors, all pushing the limits of existing control systems and sending call times into the stratosphere. How fraudsters altered their own strategies to avoid long hold times. This report examines how fraudsters constructed scams around unemployment fraud and government loan scams and how easily they extracted data, info on accounts, updates on money movement, all through unprotected IVRs.

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While families and businesses have struggled, the criminal gangs behind economic crime have been quick to capitalise from the pandemic by tailoring scams to fit our changing lifestyles due to the pandemic. These include impersonation scams seizing on people’s fears about the pandemic where fraudsters pretend to be from trusted organisations such as the NHS or government departments. Criminals are also adapting to the rise in online shopping and remote working by impersonating parcel delivery companies, e-commerce platforms or broadband providers. In addition, criminals are recruiting ‘money mules’ to launder stolen funds by posting fake adverts on job websites and social media, targeting those looking for work or to earn easy money during the pandemic. Let’s be clear, these fraudsters are not cheeky chancers, they are organised, ruthless criminals using sophisticated techniques to trick people out of their personal or financial information.

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While this publication primarily focuses on the introduction and use of criminal sanctions in the business crime space, we also consider key regulatory developments that are likely to be of interest to those managing financial crime risks within businesses. The pandemic has impacted the U.K. business crime landscape in several ways presenting new risks to identify and manage. Disrupted supply chains, remote workforces and economic pressures have created an environment ripe with opportunities for exploitation. Even though many of the risk-types are not new, the ways in which they are presenting themselves can be very different. For example, fraudulent schemes centring on the provision of PPE, access to testing and vaccines, and government loan schemes and other stimulus measures have become commonplace. In the U.K., like most other countries, dedicated taskforces have been created to target pandemic-related criminal activity.

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