Crime and Policing

THE Covid-19 pandemic has made people more susceptible to fraud as cases of criminal gangs exploiting vulnerable people have soared by nearly 25% in the last year.

The UK's lifeboat scheme will help the Serious Fraud Office in its fight against complex fraud by providing the government body with extensive data on pension scams, fraudulent investment schemes and the financial advisers promoting them.

The SFO has today secured £1,198,424.78 from Julio Faerman, the owner of a £4.25m luxury apartment in West London which the SFO suspected to have been partly purchased with the corrupt funds of its owner’s criminal conduct.

Even before COVID-19, the next UK Comprehensive Spending Review was set to be a crucial moment for police funding; but as West Midlands Chief Constable Dave Thompson QPM explains, the future of policing is about much more than budgets, with greater accountability, improved public trust and a clearer understanding of local delivery among the key issues.

Since the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) was created in 2016 as part of the government’s five-year National Cyber Security Strategy, it has worked to make the UK the safest place to live and work online.

Authorities have started investigating fraudsters who are suspected of exploiting the government’s coronavirus emergency loan schemes, after 11 cases were reported to Action Fraud.

Within days of the COVID-19 lockdown being announced in the UK, crime analysts were making predictions about its impact on criminal behaviour; so were they right?

Fraud affects everyone, from individuals to businesses, organisations and Governments. We all will either have experience of or know people who have been affected by fraud.

An Iranian national who ran a financial services company designed to circumvent financial sanctions on Iran, has been sentenced in the US after being arrested and extradited from the UK.

https://nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/iranian-who-ran-payment-platform-for-cyber-criminals-arrested-in-uk

A webinar with Professor Nicholas Ryder

Terrorism can be financed through funds collected both unlawfully and lawfully. In recent years, fraud has become a key catalyst fuelling many terrorism financing methods.