National Crime Agency Using ‘Nerds’ to Tackle Tidal Wave of Cyber Fraud, MPs Told

A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. Reuters/Kacper Pempel/File Photo

The National Crime Agency (NCA) is using “nerds” to tackle a massive rise in online fraud which has taken place over the past decade, MPs have been told.

The House of Commons home affairs committee heard from a number of experts on fraud on Wednesday and was told that the number of fraud offences had risen from 230,000 in 2013 to three million in 2023 and it would take an extra 30,000 police officers to tackle it.

Conservative MP Tim Loughton said: “This is not a crime which is combated by bobbies on the beat wandering down streets. It’s very, very different. So it requires a completely different approach ... recruiting loads of computer nerds fresh out of university who have a chance at getting one up on the computer nerds who are the fraudsters on the other side.”

He asked James Babbage, the director general of threats at the NCA, “is that what the NCA is doing?”

“Yes,” replied, Mr. Babbage who said “such people” were also being employed by the intelligence services.

Nicholas Lord, a professor of criminology at the University of Manchester, said it was estimated only 14 percent of frauds were actually reported to the police and the committee heard only 1 percent of those led to convictions.

Mr. Loughton took umbrage with Mr. Lord’s claims that Britain was “doing well” in tackling fraud.

The MP for East Worthing and Shoreham said, “Are you telling me that the UK, with a one percent conviction rate, which you are also saying is based on only 14 percent of actual frauds being reported, that we are world leaders?”

Mr. Lord replied, “I don’t think the evidence is there to make an assessment about who is dealing with this best.”

Mr. Babbage said there were a number of factors influencing the low rate of convictions, adding, “It is the case that both HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) and DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) are prosecuting many fewer people than they used to ... they are focusing on a smaller number of higher value criminals and that ultimately is a choice for them ... I think we do need to do more to get more prosecutions.”

Big Rise in ‘Authorised Frauds’

Mr. Babbage said the big rise in fraud in the past decade had been due to online fraud.

He said most of these were “authorised frauds”—where a scammer tricks an unsuspecting person into giving away their bank or credit card details—and he said criminals were interested in “monetising vulnerability.”

Later Mr. Loughton said fraudsters appeared to be, “monetising vulnerability on a vast scale.”

Mr. Babbage said the NCA had begun a pilot 18 months ago with two banks to share more data.

He said: “I’m not in a position to make further announcements on taking that forward, other than to say we are in very active discussion about taking that forward. And I was hoping possibly before the committee concludes this inquiry that we'll have more to say about how we’re going to really proactively share data with them.”

Spate of Courier Frauds

On Tuesday, City of London Police urged pensioners to be vigilant after a spate of courier frauds, including one case in Essex where a victim lost £5.3 million and another in Cambridgeshire which involved a loss of £1.9 million.

In a statement, they explained how courier frauds work.

They said, “The victim has been coerced to transfer money and/or buy gold bullion and jewellery to aid an investigation, often with the criminal posing as a courier to collect these valuable items from the victim’s address. In some cases, criminals have even visited the victim’s home, posing as police officers to collect money, jewellery and bank cards.”

Detective Sergeant Victoria O’Keefe, from City of London Police, said, “The victims of this crime are losing significant amounts of money and on some occasions, it amounts to their life savings.”

Last year, the government unveiled a national fraud strategy, which contained a foreword by the then Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

In it, she said, “Fraud now accounts for over 40 percent of crime but receives less than one percent of police resources. I am changing this by setting up a new National Fraud Squad dedicated to pursuing the most sophisticated and harmful fraudsters, with over 400 new specialist investigators, and making tackling fraud a priority for police forces in England and Wales.”