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When the new national reporting service Report Fraud launched earlier this year, we wanted to understand what difference it could make for victims of fraud. Ahead of the publication of the national fraud strategy earlier this week, Catherine Levin caught up with Chris Bell from City of London Police, who led the programme to introduce the service, for the latest episode of For Every Response.
With extensive experience in commercial and complex environments, Chris was drawn to the challenge of redesigning how the UK records and responds to fraud.
“When the opportunity came for someone to lead the transformation of Action Fraud, it was a challenge I was really interested in. I wanted to give something back to public service, support the teams that are highly dedicated in the fight against fraud, and ultimately improve results nationally,” he said.
From Action Fraud to Report Fraud
You may have heard of Action Fraud, set up in 2009 by the Home Office and later transferred to City of London Police. But by 2026, crime has evolved. “All crime has moved on, but in particular, cybercrime and fraud has changed significantly. The system in place for policing it has not kept up, and hasn’t necessarily been invested in, and the response to it is not as joined up and collaborative as it could be,” Chris explained.
Report Fraud was born from the need to modernise the technology, processes, and victim experience. “Victim experience had to be the heart of that particular process, because that’s not something that we addressed as well as we could have done under the previous service,” Chris told Catherine.
You might wonder why a single city force is running a national service. Chris explained: “The City of London Police is the nominated national lead force for fraud, and it’s the National Police Chief’s Council lead for cyber crime. The NPCC give us a national position in terms of setting the strategy and looking at the coordination of these crime type responses across the UK, and allow us to work on improving performance.”
Since 2013, the force has combined the reporting function with the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, as well as victim care services, culminating in the launch of Report Fraud.
Putting victims first
Fraud affects millions of people each year, yet historically only a fraction report it. Report Fraud seeks to change that. “Throughout the development of Report Fraud, we’ve sought to put the victims at the heart of the service, improving contact points and the victim journey experience, because before Report Fraud people were confused about what happened next after they reported,” Chris said.
The new system also allows for faster identification of emerging scams. “Dedicated teams of analysts monitor and identify emerging scams and trends and help identify enablers. We’re maximising the data received through reporting to prevent more people from becoming victims.”
Not every report leads directly to a criminal investigation, but each one counts. Chris explained how speed matters: “If a person reports a suspicious website, for example, we would take that information and with our trusted flagger status, we report that out to the industry and ask them to take the site down with immediate effect, because it has been reported to be facilitating criminality.”
Other actions take longer, particularly investigations that move through the judicial system, but Report Fraud’s aim is to ensure that victims are kept updated about their case at all points.
Working with partners
The service doesn’t operate in isolation. Chris stressed the role of partner agencies: “Seconded officers from key industries, including the Pensions Regulator, the FCA and the Serious Fraud Office, have been embedding their service to ensure that the processes that we put in place works for our partner agencies as well.” Early indications suggest the service is driving engagement.
“Typically, we saw 30 to 35,000 reports a month, on average. We’ve seen over 40,000 each month so far in the first three months of Report Fraud, so there’s definitely more activity and more people reporting off the back of our initial campaign.”
Fraudsters are constantly adapting, and so must the service. “We’ve built this to be scalable and to adapt to new emerging crime types and technology. AI is a classic example where it can absolutely be used for good, but unfortunately, the bad actors are using it as well for their purposes.”
Chris and the teams behind Report Fraud want to keep utilising better data, faster intelligence, and stronger partnerships to protect the public. “Every report really does count for us,” Chris said, echoing the service’s central ethos.
Reporting fraud can feel like a small step against a vast problem. But the thinking behind Report Fraud is that every piece of information helps build a clearer picture of how these crimes operate. By turning individual reports into intelligence that can disrupt scams, warn others and support investigations, the service hopes to ensure that coming forward helps prevent fraud from happening again.
Listen to the episode below.
