2022 Publications

On 5 December 2022, the Cabinet Office published the National Fraud Initiative Report for 2022. The Report is a data matching exercise which matches data within and between 1,300 organisations, including councils, the police, hospitals and almost 100 private companies. The aim of the report is to identify potentially fraudulent claims, errors and overpayments. When there is a match, this may be something that warrants investigation. For example, when data matching shows a person listed as dead and also in receipt of a pension, the relevant body will investigate and if appropriate stop pension payments

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The European Payments Council (EPC) has published its 2022 report on payment threats and fraud trends (EPC183-22). The EPC reports annually on the latest trends in security threats affecting payments and outlines how these threats could generate payment fraud. The 2022 report provides an overview of the current most important threats and "fraud enablers" in the payments landscape, including social engineering, malware, advanced persistent threats (APTs), denial of service ((D)DoS), botnets and monetisation channels

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The report notes the estimated number of incidents of actual and attempted fraud against individuals rose by 12% from 3.4 million in the year ending March 2017, to 3.8 million in the year ending June 2022. However, the number of fraud offences resulting in a charge or summons fell from 6,402 in 2017 to 4,816 in 2022. Fewer than 1 in 200 cases reported to the police resulted in any action. The report also noted there are significant gaps in the Home Office's understanding of the threat from fraud. The estimated cost of fraud to individuals is £4.7 billion, and the government does not have any reliable estimate of the cost to businesses. The report concludes to successfully address the threat of fraud the Home Office needs to begin building relationships with a wide range of partner bodies and to seek to influence the behaviour of the public and businesses.

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On 9 November 2022, the Law Commission of England and Wales published their final report and proposals for reforming Part 2 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The Law Commission is now working with the Office of Parliamentary Counsel to create a draft Bill to accompany their recommendations which they aim to publish in 2023.

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Fraud is the most commonly experienced crime in this country. A person is more likely to be a victim of fraud than any other crime and it costs victims billions in losses, yet it is under-resourced, under-prioritised, and its impact is widely under-estimated. If this were any other type of crime, we would deal with it swiftly and the perpetrators would be brought to justice. Because most fraud happens online, it remains invisible and fraudsters walk away without fear of repercussions. The Government must act. Creating a Cabinet sub-committee would send a message to criminals that it takes fraud seriously. Law enforcement must prioritise fraud and we must slow down payments to give banks more time to analyse suspicious transactions.

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In March 2021, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) published the Cyber Security Breaches Survey of UK businesses, charities, and education institutions as part of the National Cyber Security Programme. The findings help businesses and organisations understand the nature and significance of the cyber security threats they face, and what others are doing to stay secure. It also supports the government to shape future policy in this area. Building on this earlier research, in January 2022 DCMS commissioned an in-depth qualitative study with a range of businesses and organisations which have been affected by cyber security breaches.

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Fraud is on the rise. The disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic means that all elements of the fraud triangle have been heightened. This is going to continue because of the impacts of the war in Ukraine, rising inflation and the cost of living crisis. The fraud regulatory landscape is changing too, and we can expect increased scrutiny and accountability from government, regulators, and the public moving forward. The measures included in the BEIS white paper ‘Restoring trust in audit and corporate governance’ are likely to form part of stronger rules and regulations improving the prevention, detection, and reporting of fraud. Notably, there are increasing regulatory pressures for company directors to take greater responsibility for ensuring there are robust controls in place to prevent and detect fraud. In turn this is likely to mean company directors will require more assurance and comfort from their internal auditors regarding fraud.

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The Law Commission has today published an options paper for the Government on how it can change the law to ensure that corporations are effectively held to account for committing serious crimes. A number of options are presented

This memorandum provides an updated post legislative assessment of the Fraud Act 2006 for submission to the ‘House of Lords Select Committee on the Fraud Act 2006 and Digital Fraud’. The memorandum identified that the nature of fraud cases makes them difficult to prove and the Fraud Act 2006 was intended to give law enforcement the tools they required to tackle it effectively. The responses obtained in the review supported the view that 15 years on the Fraud Act 2006 continues to deliver on its objectives and is still regarded as an incredibly useful piece of legislation.

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The Treasury Committee published its Eleventh Report of Session 2021–22, Economic crime (HC 145), on 21 April 2022. Responses have been received from HM Treasury, the Financial Conduct Authority, and the Payment Systems Regulator. Those responses are appended to this Report.

The government has rejected the call for the creation of a single law enforcement agency dedicated to the challenge of combatting economic crime and has confirmed that it intends to create a second Economic Crime Plan due for publication later this year as well as a 10-year Fraud Strategy. The government has also confirmed that the corporate transparency and register reform bill will be brought forward in the Third Session. The bill will include reform of Companies House, reforms to prevent abuse of limited partnerships, new statutory powers to seize and recover illicit crypto assets, and reform via a forthcoming Economic Crime Bill designed to enable greater information sharing across the private sector for the purpose of preventing and detecting economic crime while protecting the rights of individual customers

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