Fraud has never been a police priority because, as one detective explained, it doesn’t “bang, bleed or shout” like other crimes. It isn’t sexy, is how some cops put it.
Fraud is Britain’s most common crime, but it’s been poorly investigated for decades – with only a fraction of cases leading to prosecutions.
The government and chief constables are now committed to improving fraud investigation and the service to victims of a crime that continues to rise, with an estimated 4.2 million frauds in the year to September 2025.
It’s taken a long time to get here.
In 2013, when victim Carolyn Woods was romance scammed out of £850,000 – all her money – and left suicidal by notorious conman Mark Acklom, she was told dismissively to fill in an online form for the official reporting system Action Fraud. Inaction Fraud, she called it.
A subsequent Times undercover investigation of Action Fraud revealed its staff were largely undertrained and uncaring, labelling victims as “morons”.
Then, a damning report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services found victims were being so let down that fraudsters believed they could act with impunity.
There were few dedicated fraud detectives, and one police force took no action on 96% of fraud cases, even when there was strong evidence and an identifiable suspect.
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In another review, Scotland Yard’s former deputy commissioner Sir Craig Mackey found that a lack of proper investment and inadequate technology were hampering police efforts to tackle fraud.
In our report on conman Ethan Hunt, who was convicted of fraud in which he rented a woman’s home with a fake court document and defaulted on payments, we spoke to several people who claimed he had scammed them.
Some were told they would need to take action in the civil courts to recover lost money.
One woman, Jackie Jackson, said the Crown Prosecution Service couldn’t take her case to court because of a lack of paperwork on her rental agreement.
And Army veteran Lance Bryant claimed police said they couldn’t help him after he lost £18,000 in a deal over a boat business that seemingly didn’t exist. Police told us they couldn’t find his report.
Last month, the government launched a new fraud strategy, with Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood declaring: “Fraud is consistently the largest reported crime type in England and Wales. It affects millions of innocent individuals and businesses each year, undermines public trust, and poses a growing threat to our national security and economic resilience.
“The scale and sophistication of modern fraud demand a new and accelerated response. This government is determined to turn the tide.”
She promised victims better support, reimbursement, stronger criminal and civil justice, and a renewed reporting system.
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It’s all too late for Ms Woods. She did eventually get police help, but only after Sky News tracked down her fraudster Acklom in Spain and Switzerland, and even then it took four years to bring him to justice.
On top of all that, police and the courts were helpless in getting back any of her stolen money.
