Hornchurch and Upminster MP, Julia Lopez, has welcomed the government’s ambitious Fraud Strategy which seeks to stop scammers and tackle fraudsters.

The Home Secretary, Suella Braverman MP, has confirmed that a new National Fraud Squad will overhaul how fraud crimes are investigated by taking a proactive, intelligence-led approach, backed by 400 new specialist investigators. It will work with local forces, international partners and the UK intelligence community to ensure that callous fraud cells who target millions of Brits each day are shut down.

The Fraud Strategy includes new measures to close the routes that scammers use to target victims, including by banning cold calls on all financial products – such as types of insurance or sham crypto currency schemes – and working with Ofcom to use new technology to further clamp down on number ‘spoofing’, so fraudsters cannot impersonate legitimate UK phone numbers.

The government will also ban other devices including so-called ‘SIM farms’ and review the use of mass texting services to keep these technologies out of criminals’ hands.

The strategy seeks to make it easier for victims to report fraud and rebuild confidence that cases are being dealt with properly. A new system will replace Action Fraud within a year and will provide a simpler route for reporting fraud online, with reduced waiting times and an online portal to allow victims to get timely updates on the progress of their cases. This service will also ensure victims’ reports are acted upon more effectively.

Finally, as 70% of fraud in the UK either starts overseas or has an international link, the government will work bilaterally to raise fraud as a key priority. The Home Secretary will host the first global fraud summit in the UK to guarantee international collaboration to tackle this threat.

You can view the full outline of the Fraud Strategy here - New blueprint to protect public from scammers - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)