'Lamentable': West Midlands police chief slams national fraud helpline
The UK's main reporting body for scams has been branded "a national disgrace" by the West Midlands' police and crime commissioner.
David Jamieson has hit out at Action Fraud, which is run by the City of London Police and is billed as a first port of call for anyone who is a victim of fraud.
The West Midlands PCC described the response to dealing with allegations of fraud as "lamentable". He has called on the Home Office to organise a greater national effort to clampdown on scammers.
A new report to West Midlands Police shows that 35,964 cases of fraud were reported in the financial year 2018-19, with a total loss to victims of £58.8 million.
In the UK there were 741,123 cases costing £2.2 billion – although credit rating agency Experian projects the total cost of fraud to the UK economy to be closer to £190bn.
Action Fraud has been heavily criticised of late after an undercover expose revealed helpline staff were misleading victims into believing their cases will be solved, while in some cases victims were mocked as “morons”.
Mr Jamieson said: "The response to fraud is lamentable. Action Fraud run by the City of London Police is a national disgrace and victims lack the confidence that police have the resources to deal with their cases.
"I will be pushing the City of London Police and the Home Office to better co-ordinate the response to cross border crimes like fraud that are costing us all billions of pounds."
According to a paper presented to the PCC's strategic policing board, in the West Midlands seven in 10 reported fraud cases were against businesses, with the rest against individuals.
Across the region 29 per cent of victims requested support – above the national average of 24 per cent.
The report says: "From these figures we can see that in the West Midlands our fraud victims are disproportionately asking for support compared with the national average.
"This would suggest that our victims need more support."
Mr Jamieson is pushing for a change in the governance of fraud recording, arguing that the current system is too centralised and that regional PCC offices are not given the information they need.
