Attention: You are using an outdated browser, device or you do not have the latest version of JavaScript downloaded and so this website may not work as expected. Please download the latest software or switch device to avoid further issues.
The Profession
About the profession
We are the national lead police force for fraud. We investigate some of the country’s most complex cases of fraud, set the national strategy and coordinate the operational response. We also host Report Fraud, the national reporting centre for cyber crime and fraud, on behalf of policing.
With over 40 per cent of all crime reported in the UK being fraud related, the National Lead Force (NLF), as part of the City of London Police, serves a crucial role in the coordination of the policing response: identifying, disrupting and prosecuting fraud and economic crime across the country.
The National Policing Strategy for Fraud, Economic and Cyber Crime 2023 – 2028 has been produced to help guide and support local, regional and national policing in delivering a range of requirements set out in various Home Office national strategies, programmes and plans. Most importantly, it will help policing provide a much better service to victims, and goes some way in consolidating policing priorities into a single, user friendly, interactive digital document to help and enable clear delivery. You can download the strategy below.
Fraud and cybercrime are currently the most prevalent crimes encountered in the UK. To combat this problem, a partnership approach to managing economic crime has been developed that includes industry, government, regulators, other law enforcement agencies and overseas organisations. In 2016, these entities were brought together under the umbrella of the National Lead Force. As part of our role, we have a number of innovative partnerships in place to police particular economic crimes or assist an organisation in meeting specific goals in the counter-fraud sphere:
The Lead Force Operations Room (LFOR) was launched in late 2020 to enable greater co-ordination and support of the policing response to fraud, in particular high harm fraud types (romance, courier, investment and payment diversion frauds), serious and complex fraud disseminations to local police forces and delivery of national campaigns.
Fraud Operations carry out the most serious and complex fraud investigations reported in England and Wales. Their focus is to gather evidence that will successfully prosecute Organised Crime Groups (OCGs) and lone fraudsters. They also work in partnership with other agencies to disrupt fraudulent activity. The Fraud Operations team lead a multi-agency partnership with National Trading Standards, Financial Conduct Authority, HM Revenue and Customs and the Insolvency Service to disrupt fraudulent investment companies that set up business addresses within the City of London.
The NLF Victim Contact Unit act as a conduit between the National Lead Force Fraud Operations Investigations and their victims of fraud. They also manage some external forces fraud investigations victims ensuring that they comply with the Victims Code Of Practice while making sure the victims are appropriately safeguarded. They also prevent revictimization as part of their outreach work. The VCU are partnered with TrueCall ltd in distributing call blocking devices, putting a stop to scam phone calls reaching the victims.
The Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) is an innovative policing unit entirely funded by the insurance industry to combat insurance fraud. IFED tackles various types of insurance fraud, from cross border OCGs using professional enablers to opportunistic insurance fraudsters. The majority of IFED’s cases focus on motor insurance fraud, but the unit deals with the wide spectrum of insurance fraud, including: life, travel, property, household, medical, and professional enablers operating in these areas. The operationally independent unit was established in 2012, with funding from the Association of British Insurers (ABI).
The Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) is a specialist team dedicated to investigating, disrupting and preventing intellectual property crime, which causes significant harm to the UK economy or the general public in terms of counterfeit physical goods and digital piracy. The operationally independent unit was established in 2013 with funding from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO).
The Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU) is a joint Metropolitan Police Service/City of London Police team, funded by the banking industry, with the sole purpose of combating crimes associated with banking and payments. DCPCU’s objectives are to proactively pursue fraudsters who cause the most economic harm, to disrupt OCGs, opportunistic fraudsters and online threats, and to use the media to help partners develop their counter-fraud capabilities.
The National Economic Crime Victim Care Unit (NECVCU) is a focussed and targeted service providing victims of fraud and cybercrime a national standard of care and support by working with forces at a local level to deliver a better service to victims. The NECVCU consists of staff based in the City of London and in Scotland. The aim of NECVCU is for victims to feel safer and more confident following contact, whilst assisting them to cope and recover from the crime and to significantly reduce the likelihood of repeat victimisation.
As part of our remit as the national lead force, we engage with police forces across the country to share best practice in fraud investigation and host the Economic and Cyber Crime Academy (ECCA), which provides training in counter-fraud and other economic crime techniques to both private and public sector organisations.
Report Fraud is the place to tell the police about cyber crime and fraud. Members of the public and businesses can report online or by phoning the Report Fraud Contact Centre.
The Report Fraud Victim Service also offers dedicated, and specialist help to victims of cyber crime and fraud.
Report Fraud is run by the City of London Police working alongside Report Fraud Analysis Services who are responsible for the assessment of reports made and to ensure that fraud reports reach the right place.
The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) receives approximately 30,000 allegations of fraud and cybercrime reported through the Action Fraud system every month. Numerous search criteria are then used to identify cases where the victim is identified as being vulnerable, after which they are prioritised.
The NFIB also has a dedicated cyber function dealing with around 2,000 reports of cybercrime per month. The cyber review team disseminate all reports of cyber-crime to 43 forces nationally, with the exception of Police Scotland, for investigation and to provide victims with advice on how to protect themselves from further harm. The team work with the National Crime Agency to provide an enhanced service for businesses to gather information and provide time critical advice and support for victims.
The prevention and disruptions team reviews crimes where there are technical enablers. Where a crime involves a website, telephone number, URL or email address, they will work in collaboration with business to take down the platforms being used to commit crime.
The cyber protect team work in conjunction with the intelligence assets within NFIB to identify trends. Using this information, they work collaboratively with stakeholders to run campaigns with consistent messaging to protect the public and businesses from harm.
Alongside our fraud work, we also have responsibilities in the cybercrime environment, working with the NCA and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), to provide protection advice to businesses and individuals. We work with partners to ensure businesses and individuals across the UK, and locally in the City, have the tools and skills necessary to protect themselves from cybercrime in all its forms.
Operation Henhouse
Operation Henhouse was a month-long intensification period, tackling fraud which took place in early 2023. LFOR led on the coordination of local, regional and national policing units.
Across the UK, Operation Henhouse saw 290 arrests made across different types of fraud offences, which included romance fraud, banking and insurance fraud, as well as money laundering and perverting the course of justice. The successful operation also saw in excess of £6.2m in assets seized, which included high-value jewellery and watches, cryptocurrency, cash, gold and luxury sports cars.
Courier fraud
Police forces across the country have been cracking down on criminals who commit courier fraud, with a combination of awareness raising and enforcement activity co-ordinated by the City of London Police to disrupt courier fraud and safeguard victims.
Romance fraud
Police forces across the country have been working together to tackle romance fraud, through a combination of awareness raising and enforcement activity, co-ordinated by the City of London Police.
A 2022 campaign showed that £8.7m was lost to romance fraud– as reported by Action Fraud.
Most recently however, was a campaign by Crimestoppers, in collaboration with Action Fraud and City of London Police, on how to spot signs of romance fraud.
Investment fraud
Co-ordinated by the City of London Police, investment fraud has been an area that has yielded notable custodial sentences in recent months.
This has ranged from an individual who received a nine-year sentence for defrauding victims with a fake fixed-odds betting site, an ex-footballer who scammed friends and family for more than £15m and for a gang that scammed more than 340 victims out of £5.4m in bogus gold mine investments.
