Fraud is a type of criminal activity, defined as:
'abuse of position, or false representation, or prejudicing someone's rights for personal gain'.
Put simply, fraud is an act of deception intended for personal gain or to cause a loss to another party.
- The general criminal offence of fraud can include:
- deception whereby someone knowingly makes false representation,
- or they fail to disclose information,
- or they abuse a position.
Fraudsters are always finding new ways to trick you out of your money. You could find yourself targeted through emails, phone calls, letters, social networking sites or even chat rooms. For a greater understanding the types of fraud and how they are classified please read about our Taxonomy of fraud
Is it fraud? Ways to recognise it.
Who can help you?
Most cases of fraud will be dealt with by the police, and occasionally other agencies.
Actionfraud is a new service which is campaigning nationally to encourage people to take part and report fraud. To find out more visit their website at: http://www.actionfraud.org.uk/victim_support
What we can do?
Our role is to combat only the most serious or complex cases of fraud and corruption. This means we are particularly interested in tackling major frauds which could involve:
- A loss of over a million pounds
- Are politically sensitive
- Have a significant impact on our economy
- Or have a high level of complexity.
The main types of fraud we investigate are:
