New £152million fraud website will stop victims being conned, says City of London Police chief

Anthony France
·2 min read
Taylor Swift (Doug Peters/PA) (PA Archive)
Taylor Swift (Doug Peters/PA) (PA Archive)

A new £152 million service replacing Action Fraud will “stop, block and catch” more fraudsters, a police leader said on Friday.

MPs described the current reporting system as “unfit for purpose” and called for it to be scrapped after consumers were failed by inaction.

Earlier this week, it emerged more than £1 million could already have been lost to criminals on social media pretending to offer tickets for US singer Taylor Swift’s sold-out summer concerts at Wembley Stadium.

Square Mile policing chief James Thomson vowed the replacement fraud and cybercrime service going live within weeks would be able to “streamline victim reporting” and “empower swift police intervention”.

City of London Police, the national lead for tackling scammers, appointed suppliers Capita and PwC to provide a new website to replace much-maligned Action Fraud.

The Public Accounts Committee concluded Britain is a “haven” for fraudsters with less than one per cent of reported cases resulting in charges.

Mr Thomson, chair of the City’s Police Authority Board, said: “Fraud is now the most common crime in the country making up for over 40 per cent of all offences, ruining lives and costing the economy £4.3 billion a year.

James Thomson, left, chair of the City of London Police Authority Board (Supplied)
James Thomson, left, chair of the City of London Police Authority Board (Supplied)

“This new system will boost the UK’s ability to tackle economic crime and stop scammers from exploiting people.

“It will deliver a first-class service with better intelligence and victim care, helping to protect communities right across the UK.”

The new site aims to speed up the time it takes to report offences, keep victims informed of progress and quickly close fraudulent websites and bank accounts.

Setting out other measures in his policing plan, former special constable Mr Thomson said the force will tackle violence against women and girls, and focus on “being trusted by communities to deliver policing with professionalism, integrity and compassion and putting victims at the heart of the service”.

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest Stories

  • Authorities Reveal How Missing Surfers from U.S. and Australia Found at Bottom of Well in Mexico Died

    Brothers Jake Robinson, 30, Callum Robinson, 33, and Jack Carter Rhoad, 30, were last seen on April 27 before being discovered dead

  • Vladimir Putin Showed His ‘Violent Nature’ In Deer-Hunting Stunt: Report

    The Russian president’s gesture was so jarring that it reportedly made ex-Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi throw up.

  • Surfers killed in likely carjacking, says Mexico

    The three tourists, from Australia and US, were trying to stop the assailants from taking their truck.

  • Missing Stephenville truck driver found dead, say Ontario Provincial Police

    Brian Lush was last seen on surveillance video at a gas station in Summerstown on April 24. The Ontario Provincial Police say he has been found dead. (Ontario Provincial Police)Missing truck driver Brian Lush has been found dead, according to the Ontario Province Police in a press release issued Monday evening.No other details will be released, the OPP said.Lush had been missing in the Summerstown area of Ontario since April 24. The 51-year-old man was headed east on his way home to Newfoundland

  • A man points a gun at a church pastor before getting tackled. Then the suspect’s relative is found dead in the gunman’s home

    An armed man gave no warning as he walked toward the front of Jesus’ Dwelling Place Church in Pennsylvania on Sunday, raised a gun toward the pastor’s face and pulled the trigger.

  • No jail time for Hamilton police officer who sexually assaulted woman he was mentoring, judge rules

    WARNING: This article contains details of sexual assault and may affect those who have experienced it or know someone affected by it. A former Hamilton police officer will not go to jail for sexually assaulting the woman he was mentoring as she pursued her own career in policing.Michael LaCombe, 54, will instead serve 12 months of house arrest followed by 12 months of probation after Justice Cameron Watson found him guilty of two counts of sexual assault in January, following a trial.Watson sent

  • India's foreign minister reacts to murder charges, claims Canada welcomes criminals

    OTTAWA — India's Foreign Affairs Minister says Canada is his country's "biggest problem" when it comes to Sikh separatism. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar also accused Canada of welcoming criminals when asked about his reaction to developments in the case of a homicide that has roiled tensions between the two countries. RCMP charged three Indian nationals last Friday in the death of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot dead last June as he left a temple in Surrey, B.C. His death sparked a wa

  • Global Manhunt for Indian Lawmaker Accused of Videoing Hundreds of Rapes

    Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times via Getty ImagesAn Indian lawmaker whose party is allied with the country’s prime minister is believed to have fled to Germany amid allegations that he sexually assaulted or raped as many as 400 women, reports say.Prajwal Revanna, the grandson of former Indian prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda, allegedly fled after thousands of flash drives were left in public places including parks and bus stands last month in the southern state of Karnataka, where Revanna holds office.

  • Woman held after baby suffers cardiac arrest at Legoland Windsor

    The five-month-old boy is in critical condition in hospital after the incident on Thursday.

  • ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ serial rapist, community activist sentenced to 220+ years in WA prison

    “You treated them as less than human. ... You don’t care about equality or respect.”

  • K-9 finds missing 85-year-old woman clinging to tree in steep ravine, Colorado cops say

    “We’re gonna get you home, OK?”

  • High school student stabbed last week in Nepean dies

    A 15-year-old boy who was critically injured in a stabbing last week in Nepean has died, according to the local English public school board.First responders were called to the 100 block of Constellation Drive on Thursday, where they found the teen suffering from life-threatening injuries.He was treated at the scene and taken to hospital, Ottawa police said that afternoon.The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) had previously confirmed the teen was a student at nearby Sir Guy Carleton S

  • 3 bodies in Mexican well identified as Australian and American surfers killed for truck's tires

    MEXICO CITY (AP) — Relatives have identified three bodies found in a well as those of two Australian surfers and one American who went missing last weekend, Mexican authorities said Sunday. Baja California state prosecutors said the relatives had viewed the corpses recovered from a remote well about 50 feet (15 meters) deep and recognized them as their loved ones. Thieves apparently killed the three, who were on a surfing trip to Mexico’s Baja peninsula, to steal their truck because they wanted

  • Bodies found in well in Mexico identified as Australian and American surfers

    Relatives have identified three bodies found in a well as those of two Australian surfers and one American who went missing last weekend, Mexican authorities said Sunday. Baja California state prosecutors said the relatives had viewed the bodies recovered from a remote well about 50 feet (15 meters) deep and recognized them as their loved ones.

  • Amazon driver fatally shoots person trying to steal vehicle at gunpoint, Ohio cops say

    Police say the suspect crashed the vehicle after being shot.

  • Singh tells Conservatives to back off as House prepares for first pharmacare vote

    OTTAWA — NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is warning Conservatives to back down from attempts to block pharmacare legislation, as the House of Commons prepares to vote on the bill for the first time. The legislation is a central condition of the NDP's political pact with the governing Liberals, and includes a program to cover select contraceptive and diabetes medications and supplies. Conservative health critic Stephen Ellis tabled an amendment to the bill last month that, if passed, would effectively q

  • As China and Iran hunt for dissidents in the US, the FBI is racing to counter the threat

    After a student leader of the historic Tiananmen Square protests entered a 2022 congressional race in New York, a Chinese intelligence operative wasted little time enlisting a private investigator to hunt for any mistresses or tax problems that could upend the candidate's bid, prosecutors say. As an Iranian journalist and activist living in exile in the United States aired criticism of Iran's human rights abuses, Tehran was listening too. Members of an Eastern European organized crime gang scouted her Brooklyn home and plotted to kill her in a murder-for-hire scheme directed from Iran, according to the Justice Department, which foiled the plan and brought criminal charges.

  • Trial of Winnipeg man who admits to killing 4 women to be heard by judge alone

    The jury trial of a man accused of killing four women in Winnipeg will now instead be heard by a judge alone, a change that comes after Jeremy Skibicki's lawyers said he admits to killing the women but will ask to be found not criminally responsible.The Crown says that given it no longer has to prove Skibicki, 37, caused the women's deaths, prosecutors are now willing to proceed with a judge-alone trial — something they had previously strongly opposed.Crown attorney Christian Vanderhooft reveale

  • Death of South Carolina pastor’s wife has gone viral on TikTok. Here’s what we can confirm

    South Carolina public reports, including from Horry County Police, provide details of Mica Miller’s relationship with her pastor husband.

  • Appeals dismissed for father, son convicted in killings of Métis hunters

    The Court of Appeal of Alberta has upheld convictions against a father and son found guilty in the shooting deaths of Métis hunters Jacob Sansom and Maurice Cardinal.In separate decisions Monday, appeal panels rejected the applications of Anthony Bilodeau and his father, Roger Bilodeau.Following a trial in 2022, a jury found Anthony Bilodeau guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Maurice Cardinal and guilty of manslaughter in Jacob Sansom's death. Roger Bilodeau was found guilty of mansl