Minister for Security (Dame ): My Noble Friend the Minister
of State, Home Office ( of Flint) has today made the
following Written Ministerial Statement:
I am pleased to inform the House that the Home Office is today
publishing Jonathan Fisher KC's second and final report from the
Independent Review of Disclosure and Fraud Offences, Fraud in the
Digital Age. The report examines the effectiveness of the current
fraud framework and the barriers that inhibit the detection,
investigation and prosecution of fraud committed against
individuals and businesses.
I would like to record my thanks to Jonathan Fisher KC for this
significant and authoritative contribution, and for his sustained
leadership of the Review across both phases. This includes his
earlier report, Disclosure in the Digital Age, to which the
Government has responded.
Together, the two reports reflect extensive engagement across the
criminal justice system, law enforcement, regulatory bodies,
academia and the private sector, and provide a comprehensive
assessment of how fraud is now perpetrated and how the system
should respond.
This second report lays bare the scale and seriousness of the
challenge. Fraud now accounts for nearly half of all surveyed
crime, making it the most prevalent offence faced by the public,
including businesses. It is not a victimless or technical crime:
it strikes directly at personal autonomy, causes profound
emotional harm to victims, imposes significant costs on
businesses and the wider economy, undermines public trust, and
poses a growing threat to our national security and economic
resilience.
The report identifies a set of structural and systemic factors
that have allowed fraud to proliferate. It describes an age-old
crime that has been supercharged by digital technology: offenders
can operate at scale, at distance and across borders; and the
likelihood of detection and prosecution remains low. Lengthy
investigations, the growing complexity of digital material,
limited specialist capability and fragmented responsibilities
have combined to weaken deterrence and to create the perception
among criminals that fraud is a low-risk, high-reward activity.
The report is clear that the Government must match criminals'
innovation with its own.
Against that backdrop, the report emphasises that enforcement
alone will not be sufficient. It makes 47 recommendations which
collectively argue for a decisive shift in posture: from a system
that is predominantly reactive and post-harm, to one that is
proactive, disruptive and preventative. The recommendations are
grouped around strengthening upstream disruption; improving
publicprivate partnership and data sharing; increasing corporate
accountability; responding to emerging technologies; and ensuring
that consequences for fraud and fraud-enabling conduct are
swifter, more certain and more visible, in order to increase
deterrence and reinforce public confidence.
As set out in the Government's Fraud Strategy 20262029, we are
already strengthening the tools available to disrupt fraud
earlier and at scale, including through the exploration of civil
penalties and international sanctions against high-harm overseas
fraud actors. We are expanding international cooperation,
sponsoring the Global Fraud Summit 2026, to tackle fraud as a
transnational threat.
Alongside this, through the Online Safety Act 2023, we are
ensuring that tech companies are responsible for preventing
fraudulent content and adverts from appearing on their platforms.
We are deepening publicprivate partnerships by launching the
Online Crime Centre to disrupt online and volume cyber fraud at
scale, and to make the UK a harder place for criminals to commit
fraud.
We are also working to improve the sharing and use of economic
crime data, including through a recent Call for Evidence, and
will consider the effectiveness of whistleblower incentivisation
as part of the Government's broader approach to strengthening the
detection, prevention and enforcement of economic crime. Trusted
reporting channels can play a vital role in surfacing information
on fraud, corruption, sanctions evasion and other illicit
activity, enabling earlier intervention and more effective
disruption.
The report's recommendations cut across the responsibilities of
multiple departments, agencies and sectors. The Government will
now consider them carefully and will respond in due course.
Tackling fraud requires sustained collaboration between
Government, law enforcement, regulators, industry and civil
society. This Government is determined to build momentum in the
fight against fraud: to support victims, to pursue those who
profit from deception, to strengthen deterrence, and to make the
UK a safer place to live, work and do business.
The report is being presented to Parliament today as a Command
Paper (CP 1600) and will be available on GOV.UK.
