If you fall victim to financial fraud you should contact your bank

In the past victims of fraud, including financial fraud such as online or credit card fraud, often went to the police to report the crime. However, in recent changes to policies and procedures linked to the Fraud Act 2006, consumers will now have to change the way in which financial fraud is reported. The changes came into force last month, and mean that consumers will now have to report illegal activity such as credit card, bank, or online financial fraud to their banks rather than to police.

As part of the changes the banks and financial institutions will then take responsibility for passing on details of the criminal activity to police authorities for further investigation if required. It is hoped that reporting this type of crime will become more straightforward, consistent, and effective as a result of these changes. Consumers will know exactly where they have to go or who they have to contact in order to report the crime, and will not have to feel intimidated about reporting it to the police.

A spokesperson for APACS stated: 'This change simply removes an additional level of reporting and will provide greater consistency for the reporting of fraud losses in the UK. APACS will provide the Home Office with the industry's fraud figures for cheque, plastic and online banking fraud losses - these losses will then be published as part of the government’s annual crime figures, thereby giving a more realistic picture of the scale of this type of crime.'

Other types of fraud and also any other criminal activity that may be linked to the financial fraud should still be reported to the police in the usual way. Some forms of credit card and online fraud, such as card not present fraud, have been on the rise over recent years, and according to figures from APACS there were nearly a quarter of a million cases of card fraud in the UK in 2006.

Tom Smith
25th May 2007