Government invests £4.5 million into scam busting
The UK government has confirmed that the Office of Fair Trading and Trading Standards will receive around £4.5 million in additional investment which will be used to equip these two prominent offices with teams, training and the technology to combat online crime. This is a major investment into this area of fraud which has grown enormously over the last few years resulting in millions upon millions of pounds being siphoned off by fraudsters.
A recent report by the Office of Fair Trading indicated that upwards of 3 million people a year in the UK are victims of online fraud costing over £3 billion per annum. Whether these frauds materialise in the form of e-mails, websites or perhaps direct marketing strategies, there is a belief that the £3 billion figure may only be scratching the surface. While there are many independent fraudsters and scammers working on the Internet it is the large groups who are taking the lion's share and whom the government and the authorities will be targeting.
We also need to educate people about coming forward if they have been the victim of fraud or scams so that the information made available can be used to avoid similar instances in the future.
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