@Paul Clarke
Jonathan Fisher KC highlights that it now accounts for around 40% of criminal offences, with roughly 70% involving technology, and argues that the UK cannot simply prosecute its way out of the problem. Detection, investigation and prosecution all require improvement, while different fraud types demand tailored responses.
Fisher’s independent review makes 47 recommendations, including stronger whistleblower protections, greater obligations on social-media companies, new offences covering impersonation and money mules, improved international law-enforcement cooperation, and doubling the maximum fraud sentence from ten to 20 years.
AI is enabling organised criminals to reach victims at unprecedented scale, while anti-fraud efforts remain significantly under-resourced. Nevertheless, Fisher sees an opportunity for UK leadership through its 2026 FATF presidency, promoting asset freezing, transaction suspension and stronger cross-border intelligence-sharing to tackle the global fraud epidemic.
