UK MPs Call for Special Economic Crime Courts to Deal With ‘Epidemic of Fraud’

Wads of Bank of England banknotes are stacked in piles, at the Money Service Austria company's headquarters in Vienna, on Nov. 16, 2017. (Leonhard Foeger/Reuters)

A committee of MPs has urged the British government to set up a system of economic crime courts to tackle an “epidemic of fraud” sweeping the country.

The Justice Committee said only one out of 700 fraud cases were currently prosecuted, with tens of thousands of online scammers getting away with their crimes.

In their report (pdf), published after hearing evidence, the committee said: “Fraud accounts for more than 40 percent of all crime yet receives only around two percent of police funding. Out of the 20,000 new police officers being recruited, only 380 are planned to be deployed in the response to fraud.”

The committee, which is chaired by Conservative MP Sir Bob Neill, said, “If the government is serious in its ambition to reduce fraud, it needs to ensure it is allocated sufficient resourcing within police budgets to help identify and prosecute crimes as well as prevent these crimes from occurring.”

The report’s findings make stark reading.

It says: “There is currently an epidemic of fraud in England and Wales. The level of fraud has been increasing year on year and this growth accelerated during the pandemic to an unprecedented level. As the country emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, there are no signs of a reversal in the upward trend.”

‘Patchy and Inconsistent’ Support

The MPs said support for fraud victims was “patchy and inconsistent” and there was “no national standard for fraud victim care.”

The committee said the argument for economic crime courts, which would be overseen by judges with detailed knowledge of finance and technology, was “compelling” and would help to tackle the backlog of fraud cases.

They go on to say: “The government should work with the judiciary to pilot the establishment of economic crime courts. If the pilots are successful, these types of court should be established around the country to reflect the geographic diversity in the crimes being perpetrated.”

The MPs also urged the government to set a minimum standard of care which fraud victims could expect to receive from police forces and introduce this by the end of 2023.

The report says: “Many victims of fraud find it difficult to know how to report the crime. It needs to be made much clearer to victims how they can report a crime, as the current lack of clarity brings added distress to the process.”

Currently victims are encouraged to contact Action Fraud, the national reporting centre, but the committee welcomed the government’s plans to replace it with a new high-tech service in 2024.

The committee also urged the government to amend legislation to “allow for flexibility” in altering the compensation a victim can receive if a fraudster is later found to have hidden assets.

It also criticised police forces around the country and said, “Fraud is not an investigative priority ... partly because it is not a crime type for which forces are held accountable for their performance.”

On Wednesday the Justice Committee is due to hear evidence about the Serious Fraud Office, which tackles bribery, corruption, and large-scale corporate fraud.

A government spokesman told The Telegraph: “The government remains absolutely committed to cracking down on the shameless scammers stealing cash from hard-working families.

“Our upcoming fraud strategy will consider all possible tools required to go after fraudsters and protect those who are most vulnerable to these crimes. It is crucial that we work together, with industry, law enforcement, courts, and the third sector, to make sure there is no safe space for fraudsters.”