Attorney general calls for anti-fraud agency

The Attorney General has unveiled a series of major new proposals to combat the rising incidents of fraud in the UK, which has seen internet fraud account for eight percent of all cases, according to a new report released last week.

The Fraud Review, released by Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, calls for a National Fraud Strategic Authority and a Lead Police Force to combat fraud across the UK, plus a National Fraud Reporting Centre with "the capacity to accept crime reports from victims". 

The review document suggests that these steps will address current problems faced by many firms, which are confused about how and where to report fraud. Fraudsters benefit from this lack of continuity of response," the report said. "Internet fraud is a particularly good example of how fraud can become difficult to report."

The report also highlights that the cost of fraud could be much greater than merely financial losses, if a rise in fraud were to turn large numbers of consumers away from using the internet for financial transactions.

Nathan Jackson, managing director of payment processing specialist CyberSource, agreed that may retailers become frustrated because different law enforcement authorities are responsible for different types of fraud.

"It isn't easy and I've been to many seminars where retailers have griped about not knowing who to turn to," Jackson explained. "We'd advise organisations to collect as much evidence as possible, because the more you have the easier it is to take it further."

But David Porter of IT security consultancy Detica argued that although the organisational structure for fraud investigation needs shaking up, attention must also be paid to ensure the data that is fed to the authorities for investigation is relevant and coherent.

Earlier this month Robert Wardle, director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), complained in the organisation's annual report that insufficient resources are restricting the number of cases being investigated.

A spokesman told IT Week that the SFO welcomed the Attorney General's proposals and looked forward to seeing them put into action. "They represent the sensible way forward as a way to improve the national response to fraud – electronic media [and communications] have given a wider opportunity for fraudsters," he said.