ActionFraud is the UK’s national fraud and cyber crime reporting centre.

The website is www.actionfraud.police.uk/ and it’s designed for people to report fraud and cyber crimes. They don’t take action against these criminals but they do build up intelligence of the relevant crimes that happen.

ActionFraud is linked with The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) which sits alongside Action Fraud within the City of London Police and they are the national policing lead for fraud.

The NFIB collates and analyses intelligence on fraud, identifying viable lines of enquiry and developing packages for submitting to a police force for investigation.

What happens to my report once has it been made to Action Fraud?

The website says that the reports are sent for assessment by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) helping to build a national picture of where fraud and cyber crime is taking place and how. Experts review the data from these reports to decide whether there is enough information to send to a police force for investigation.

The NFIB aims to send you an update in writing around 28 working days after you have made your fraud report, to advise you what action has been taken on your report.

It’s clearly a good idea that information and reports on these crimes are made to one organisation rather than being spread across all of the Police Forces and that there are experts assessing the level and location and patterns of activity in these crimes

The Action Fraud website does have a lot of information on how to prevent being defrauded  and guidance on aspects of the law but it is primarily for reporting such crimes. And they do warn people of latest scams and related activity.