British regulation enforcers are celebrating a serious haul after arresting lots of and seizing thousands and thousands of kilos’ price of money and property of their newest crackdown on fraud.
Coordinated by the Nationwide Financial Crime Centre and Metropolis of London Police, the fourth iteration of Operation Henhouse ran all through February, in keeping with the Nationwide Crime Company (NCA).
It resulted in 422 arrests, the seizure of £7.5m in money and property and account freezing orders of £3.9m.
The money seizure determine represents a 91% enhance on final 12 months’s operation, the NCA claimed.
Learn extra on UK fraud: UK Rip-off Losses Surge 50% Yearly to £11.4bn
Fraud is the commonest crime within the UK, accounting for 41% of all studies to the police, and costing an estimated £6.8bn every year in England and Wales, the company stated. Some four-fifths of reported fraud is considered cyber enabled.
Among the many successes for police this 12 months had been:
- The return of almost £1m by Kent police to an funding rip-off sufferer
- The identification of a Cardiff household who’re believed to have offered faux, damaged or cloned cell phones on Fb Market and organized conferences with victims to intimidate them
- The arrest of a man and 4 ladies in reference to a multimillion-pound funding and cash laundering operation in Scotland
- The seizure by Merseyside police of greater than £2.7m in suspected prison money and property
“Fraud is a really horrible crime which takes many varieties and may have an effect on anybody. We’re decided to satisfy the size of the problem head-on,” stated the UK’s first fraud minister, Lord Hanson.
“The continuing success of Operation Henhouse demonstrates the excellence of police and regulation enforcement companions, and the real-world affect of their exercise to crack down on this actually pernicious crime. We’ll proceed to work carefully with them to spotlight the significance of the Cease! Assume Fraud marketing campaign, and to introduce a brand new expanded Fraud Technique.”
The British authorities has up to now been criticized for failing to prioritize fraud, at the same time as prison income soared.
Specialists gave a lukewarm reception to the earlier administration’s efforts, introduced in 2023. The issue has grow to be so extreme that one famous assume tank has described it as a risk to nationwide safety.
