New Anti-Fraud Champion appointed to help ‘turn the tide’ on fraudsters
MP Simon Fell has been appointed as the Prime Minister’s new Anti-Fraud Champion.
The voluntary position is responsible for driving collaboration between the Government, law enforcement and the private sector to help block fraud, which accounts for 40 per cent of all crime in the UK.
Mr Fell’s work to “turn the tide” on fraud will include engaging with sectors such as banking, technology and telecoms.
Mr Fell has been the MP for Barrow and Furness since 2019. Before being elected he worked for Cifas, an industry leader in fraud prevention, for nine years. He most recently served as its director for external affairs.
Latest figures from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) for the year ending June 2023 show there was a 13 per cent fall in fraud offences – down from 3.8 million in the year ending June 2022 to 3.3 million.
Similarly, Action Fraud reported a nine per cent decrease in fraud – 290,046 offences compared with 319,622 in the year ending June 2022 .
However, evidence shows fewer than one in seven fraud offences were reported to the police or Action Fraud.
And despite these decreases, overall police recorded fraud was 15 per cent higher (1.1 million offences) compared with the year ending June 2022 (one million offences).
The increase in overall fraud was mainly influenced by a rise in offences reported by two industry bodies, UK Finance and Cifas. UK Finance reported a 46 per cent increase (to 465,894 offences) compared with the year ending June 2022 (319,311 offences). This was a result of an increase in reporting from its existing members because of engagement from UK Finance. Cifas also reported a seven per cent increase in fraud (to 366,797 offences) compared with the year ending June 2022 (341,417 offences).
Mr Fell said: “Fraud is an insidious crime that is too common and which profoundly harms those affected.
“We have to turn the tide, and I look forward to working with ministers, industry, law enforcement, and civil society to strengthen our response and better protect society from this crime.”
A central part of Mr Fell’s role will be overseeing the implementation of the Online Fraud Charter, which was agreed with 12 of the world’s biggest technology companies last month.
Commitments within the charter include verifying new advertisers, quickly removing fraudulent content and increasing the levels of verification on peer-to-peer marketplaces. These will be rolled out over the next six months.
Home Secretary James Cleverly said: “I am delighted to welcome Simon to his new position, which is at the very heart of our efforts to protect the public from fraud.
“His proven track record will allow us to build on our recent successes, which include reducing fraud by 13 per cent and rolling out the world’s first ever Online Fraud Charter.”
Security Minister Tom Tugendhat added: “It’s a pleasure to welcome Simon to his new post as the Government’s new Anti-Fraud Champion.
“I’m confident that he’ll build on the excellent work done by Anthony Browne MP, and am certain his proven experience will help the Government deliver on the vital work we are doing to protect the public and stop fraudsters in their tracks.”
Mr Fell has assumed the position from Mr Browne, who has taken a ministerial post at the Department for Transport.