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General Election 2017 Briefing

For the fraud picture in 2016, read Fraudscape – our annual report on fraud and financial crime.

Our asks of the next Government

1.

Fraud education should be in the national curriculum. Cifas wants to see every child from Key Stage 3 onwards receive consistent education on how to protect their identities online and protect themselves from fraud. Our data shows that young people are increasingly at risk from identity fraud.

2.

Tackling fraud should be a strategic priority for UK policing. The latest Office of National Statistics crime figures showed that almost half of all crime is fraud, and Cifas figures show that 66% of frauds recorded by our members is cyber enabled. We want to see the next Government earmark funding and give a clear policy steer to law enforcement that tackling this high volume crime needs to be a priority.

3.

Conduct a comprehensive review of the sentencing guidelines for fraud. Currently the maximum sentence for fraud is seven years. Compared to other offences where theft of money takes place, fraud has much lower sentences. Fraud can cause terrible detriment to victims: Trading Standards figures show that older people defrauded in their own homes are 2.5 times more likely to either die or go into residential care within a year. Cifas would like to see fraud offences attract a stronger sentence to reflect this and to act as a deterrent to those committing these crimes.

About Cifas

Cifas exists to prevent fraud and financial crime. We are an independent, not-for-profit organisation that protects businesses and individuals through effective and secure data and intelligence sharing between the private, public and third sectors. In 2016, Cifas members prevented over £1 billion of fraud losses.

Cifas data is included in the Office of National Statistics England and Wales Crime Statistics of police recorded crime. Every day, Cifas sends approximately 800 fraud cases to the City of London Police for potential investigation.

For more information about what we do please contact Cifas’ Government and Parliamentary Affairs Manager Ross Archer, 020 3004 3647.

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