This is double the number in the same period in 2018, according to the latest figures from UK Finance. In the first half of 2019, 39 fraudsters were convicted following investigations by the DCPCU and GBP 333,000 of assets were seized from criminal gangs, double the amount confiscated in the same period in 2018.
The DCPCU is a specialist police unit funded by the banking and finance industry that targets the organised criminal gangs responsible for fraud. Since it was set up in 2002, the unit has prevented or disrupted over GBP 600 million of fraud, including GBP 6.8 million in the first half of 2019.
The head of the unit has warned that criminal gangs involved in trafficking guns and drugs are increasingly turning to online fraud, and called for more action to prevent fraudsters using social media platforms to recruit young people as ‘money mules’.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now