Virgin Media O2 calls for fraud to be a police priority

Only 84 fraud convictions are made each year on average, data from Virgin Media O2 shows as the telecoms business called for the government to make fraud a priority for the police.
Last year Virgin Media O2 intercepted and blocked more than £250 million in suspected fraudulent transactions targeted at customers. Its investigation unit has submitted 34 police-compliant evidence packs in the past two years.
Despite the company believing these cases had a realistic prospect of conviction — the unit is staffed by former police officers — it has been made aware of only two successful prosecutions.
In one case the investigations team spent more than two years building a case against a crime gang targeting UK consumers. They linked hundreds of cases worth a total of £250,000 to two individuals and worked with the police to provide comprehensive evidence. Since then the case has stalled and no charges have been brought.
In the event of falling victim to fraud, people are supposed to contact Action Fraud, a reporting centre run by City of London police. In theory, cases are assessed before being passed to the relevant police force to investigate.
In practice only 6 per cent of cases reported to Action Fraud reached other forces for investigation last year. The much-criticised organisation has been described as “not fit for purpose” by the House of Commons justice committee. It is supposed to be replaced by an improved service, although this has been delayed many times.
Under Suella Braverman, the former Conservative government published its fraud strategy. It pledged to cut fraud by 10 per cent by setting up a National Fraud Squad, staffed by 400 specialists, dedicated to pursuing the sophisticated fraudsters.
However, Virgin Media has said the current strategy is insufficient, with the Crime Survey for England & Wales estimating there were 3.1 million fraud incidents last year alone.
Rob Orr, chief operations officer at Virgin Media O2, said: “To help turn the tide, we urgently need the government to appoint a minister responsible for fraud and address the structural problems by creating a centralised, specialised and properly resourced national body.”