Today's lack of action by the City of London Police is brought to you by the number 19 and the letter A

Today's lack of action by the City of London Police is brought to you by the number 19 and the letter A.  I mean what is this, Sesame Street?  They won't tell you what evidence they do require before they can launch an investigation and if you appeal this decision they tell you they can't report it and when you complain to the IPCO and they respond "What response do you want?" and you say "nicking villains" they say they can never reverse a decision.  They are set in aspic for all time...

Report Fraud V1

RE:RF26050255333C

Dear Anthony Miller

Thank you for your recent submission and taking the time to report fraud.

When you report cyber crime or fraud, our experts review the information you have provided to determine whether a UK police force/ law enforcement agency could successfully investigate the crime.

On this occasion we have reviewed your report and, based on the information currently available, have allocated the following outcome:

19a

This is because:

A fraud or cyber crime, having been recorded, has not been allocated for investigation because the assessment process has determined there are insufficient lines of enquiry to warrant such dissemination.

We continually assess the content of individual and linked crime reports. If, due to new information the situation changes, we will provide an update.

Please be assured that your report will stay in the Report Fraud database, so that it can be matched with future reports. If in future it is considered that an investigation could take place, the report will be shared with a UK police force who will then decide whether they are able to investigate the crime. By contacting us you are giving the police vital information they need to protect you and others, as well as disrupt criminal activity. Based on your report, we would like to share the following advice:

How to protect yourself from False Accounting fraud

It’s important to recognise that a fraud can come from anywhere, including:

staff members

customers

suppliers

third parties, unconnected to the business

There is no single solution to prevent all business fraud, but the information below will help you identify the most common types and take action to protect yourself, your staff and your business.

Policy

Having protocols and policies in place for dealing with fraud will help you establish a good grounding for identifying it and minimising your risk of becoming a victim. You should emphasise a zero-tolerance approach to criminal breaches of your policies and the law surrounding it.

Prevent and Detect

In order to detect fraud you need to have effective systems and processes in place covering all aspects of your business. Consider regular, routine planned audits. Conduct irregular unplanned audits (i.e. where the staff and areas of your business are not given prior notification).

Have a separate “whistle blowing” policy so that members of staff know exactly who to report any concerns and suspicions to, how they should do it and what levels of protection they can expect.

Investigate

Once you have identified a fraud you will need to formulate a clear strategy to deal with it. The first thing to consider is the extent of the fraud. Do not assume you have identified the full extent straight away. For example, if it is one member of staff that is suspected, consider other staff members they work with. Consider whether you should take action straight away or monitor and investigate further.

Risk Manage

This should be a continual process and form part of your overall fraud strategy.

Take a risk based approach, i.e. assess the risks – the likelihood of something happening and the impact it could have on your business. If resources are limited then take action to mitigate the threats that have the most risk.

For more information, please visit: Business fraud and how to prevent it | City of London Police

What to do if you are a victim of False Accounting fraud

If you have made a payment: Inform your bank as soon as possible, they can help you prevent any further losses. Monitor your bank statements regularly for any unusual activity.

Review: Perform a review of your internal processes to determine whether any changes could be made to prevent similar types of fraudulent activity, or improve your detection of them.

If you would like more information on how to protect yourself from fraud and cyber crime, please see the Prevention guidance at https://reportfraud.police.uk or we suggest contacting https://www.stopthinkfraud.campaign.gov.uk/protect-yourself-from-fraud/protecting-your-business/ as they may be able to provide further support.

If you have any queries regarding this email visit https://reportfraud.police.uk/faqs/ where you will find answers to most common questions. If you feel your query remains unanswered you can submit your question to us via our online form.  You can also register on our partner website https://reportfraudalert.co.uk  to receive email alerts about new and emerging crime types.

Your feedback is vital to us in improving the service that we provide. Our feedback survey is voluntary, completely anonymous and should take no longer than 5 minutes to complete. If you would like to give us some feedback, please click here: https://emea.dcv.ms/Q7ksSWBIoy.

Thank you again for taking the time to report this matter.

Report Fraud

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