A new Online Crime Centre is set to take the fight to cyber-crime as part of the UK government’s expanded anti-fraud strategy

In a joint announcement, the UK Home Office and the National Crime Agency said that the new unit is designed to crackdown on fraud and will combine expertise from government, intelligence agencies, the police, banks, mobile networks and major technology firms.

Set to begin work in April, the Online Crime Centre is tasked with actively disrupting cyber-criminal operations including overseas scam compounds.

In recent years, these criminal operations have scaled hugely, providing those working in the compounds, many of whom are victims in their own right who are there under duress, with scripts and procedures to help target vast numbers of people at once.

The centre will identify the accounts, websites and phone numbers that cyber-criminal gangs rely on and shut them down. Activity which is set to be taken includes blocking scam texts, freezing criminal accounts, removing scam social media accounts and disrupting operations at source.

“Fraudsters are exploiting new technology, industrializing their operations and targeting the British public at scale,” said fraud minister Lord Hanson.

“That’s why we’re bringing together the key players in the system – police, intelligence agencies, banks, mobile networks, regulators and tech companies – to shut down the channels scammers rely on, wherever they operate from.”

Tackling a £14bn A Year Issue

According to figures from the UK government, cyber-enabled fraud costs the UK economy a total of £14bn ($19bn) a year with one in 14 adults, and one in four businesses having experienced being a victim of fraud.

The strategy has also set out how the government will back law enforcement to deploy AI to defend against cyber threats.

The use cases of AI in this capacity includes the ability to detect and stop suspicious bank fraud transfers and plans to use ‘scam-baiting chatbots’ to trick fraudsters and waste their time, while also gathering intelligence which can be used as part of takedowns.

“The National Crime Agency has been building a stronger response to fraud. However, the threat will continue to grow globally, and the launch of the Fraud Strategy provides the basis for a further step change in our collective work to protect the UK public from these criminals,” said James Babbage, director general for threats at the National Crime Agency,

“We are looking forward to working with partners across the public and private sectors as part of the new Online Crime Centre to continue this,” he added.

The expanded fraud strategy also set out plans to provide victims of cyber-fraud with improved support.

A new fraud victims charter will set out response times, minimum standards of care and consistent advice on reimbursement and recovery to ensure members of the public receive the same level of support, no matter who or where they are.