Fraud in the UK is estimated to be more than £1.26bn in 2020 and some Police actions result in money and assets belonging to the criminals being frozen. For 2020, that was roughly £130 million.

The government is considering a proposal from banks that these funds obtained through criminal activities be used to pay back at least some of the victims.

According to a survey, three-quarters of those asked said they supported the idea, although there isn’t enough money to pay back all victims so that would create difficult choices on who receives the money.

A Home Office spokesperson stated that the government is working with the financial sector to unlock suspected criminal funds held in ‘frozen’ accounts across the financial sector.

Under some circumstances, the banks do pay back victims currently but, in many cases, the victims don’t get anything.

The Banks cannot make the decision to use that money until there is a change to the law, by the government to enable it. This is likely to be under the money laundering laws.

You can campaign on this issue to your local MP or the Home Office.

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.