NFIB eNewsletter - June 2010
Message from Detective Chief Superintendent Steve Head, Head of Economic Crime at the City of London Police
We are just hours away from the ‘Know Fraud’ solution being switched on and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) becoming a fully operational police intelligence system. The road we have travelled to reach this point has not always been smooth but the fact that we have an NFIB delivered on time and on budget is something all those involved in the project should be proud of. However, there is no time for anyone to down tools and draw breath. We now have the capacity to analyse millions of reports of fraud, which will enable us to shine a light into the darker corners of our society where criminals continue to operate undetected. We are committed to making sure the NFIB fulfils its huge potential. This means putting intelligence packages in the hands of police forces and fraud alerts in the hands of the public and private sector in the weeks ahead. There really is no time to lose.
I am pleased to say the NFIB website - www.nfib.police.uk – is now also up and running with all the latest news and information available online. The website will provide regular updates on NFIB activity and should become an important source of information for our stakeholders. Please check it out.
For this edition and all future editions of the NFIB newsletter we will be having a full Action Fraud update, provided by the National Fraud Authority (NFA). For the NFIB and Action Fraud to succeed all our stakeholders need to have a clear understanding of the important work we are doing together and individually. I hope this newsletter is informative and explains the direction we are both heading in.
NFIB update:
The 'Know Fraud' hub
The building of the ‘Know Fraud’ hub is complete and full-scale system testing has been carried out. As part of this process the technical system was penetration tested by external specialists to ensure it is robust and the data is secure. This was successfully completed with only minor improvements identified, which have now been implemented, and the information assurance team is confident that the system is secure. Following this work the accreditors drawn from the Met, Hampshire and City of London forces were able to certify the Know Fraud ‘hub’.
The Know Fraud system is designed to take data automatically from data providers, ingest it into the Detica Net Reveal application and build networks of linkages between individual pieces of data. This has taken considerable development and configuration effort over the last few months. As part of our SEFT solution (Secure Electronic File Transfer), we are in the process of deploying a secure laptop to each of our providers for them to send their data to our secure hub via an encrypted data line. When the data arrives, either daily in the case of data from CIFAS and Action Fraud; or weekly/monthly with our other providers, it will be automatically ingested into the system overnight. The developed networks will then be available for police analysts and researchers to review when they arrive at work the next morning.
An important part of the future success of the automated system is to ensure we continue to receive data from our providers in a consistent, reliable way as even a minor change can affect the ingest. We have been reviewing the latest data sets and will be working with providers over the next few weeks to ensure we receive the data in a consistent format. We have recently received refreshes of data from all our main data providers, amounting to over one million records and rising. The majority of data sharing agreements have now been signed, bar one that is pending. Finally, go-live will also include the i2 Export module that will enable us to take data out of NetReveal into a format that forces can read into their i2 applications.
Visiting the NFIB team
Over the last few months the NFIB team in Gloucester has continued to play host to representatives from key partners. In April Royal Mail, Companies House, British Telecom, UK Payments and CFSMS - making a return visit – had the opportunity to view the criminal networks, speak with the analysts and feed their own data into the Know Fraud ‘hub’. In May it was the turn of RBS and Gloucester Police to see the new intelligence systems in action at SERCO’s offices. With the team moving back to London on June 14th they are now looking forward to welcoming law enforcement partners to the NFIB headquarters at the City of London Police Economic Crime Directorate and encouraging them to feed some of their operational data into the system. Vodafone and Hill Dickinson are already booked in for later this month
ACTION FRAUD
Over the past few months Action Fraud has run a series of targeted, online campaigns working with websites such as Netmums and BeGrand to reduce the number of people falling victim to fraud.
Netmums is a website for parents, recently voted one of the top ten websites in the UK. Action Fraud joined forces with Netmums to provide parents with advice and guidance, hosting a web page dedicated to fraud prevention and contributing two news articles in the Netmums newsletter, which goes out to over 690,000 readers. An Action Fraud advisor also moderated an online chat forum, encouraging victims to share their experiences of fraud with each other. Netmums visitors responded to two online polls during the campaign. They told us that phishing and credit card cons were the most common scams they experienced. 46% of the 1,104 respondents also feel most at risk of fraud when shopping online. This information will be used to help us target future campaigns.
BeGrand, the website for grandparents, also partnered with Action Fraud to provide its users with tips to avoid fraud. An online 'drop-in clinic' gave users an opportunity to ask Action Fraud questions on how to protect themselves from fraudsters, who often target older people. Questions ranged from 'how can I tell if an email from my bank is genuine?' to 'I'm considering investing in an amazingly cheap villa in Italy. The seller is asking for money up front. How can I tell if this is for real?'
The current quality of data going from Action Fraud to the NFIB is at a good level. We are constantly looking to improve the customer experience and the next stage of our work will see improvements to the website to make it easier for the public to navigate through Action Fraud. Additionally, we are currently planning the next stage of our campaign to continue to roll out Action Fraud across the country. This will have a particular emphasis on more vulnerable people.
For more information about Action Fraud and our upcoming campaigns, contact our team at: orna.joseph@attorneygeneral.gsi.gov.uk or sarah.garrett@attorneygeneral.gsi.gov.uk
Action Fraud data and NFIB analysis
In May 404 fraud reports were transferred from Action Fraud into the NFIB hub, the highest monthly figure in 2010. Online shopping and auction fraud once again topped the charts with 157 reports; with advanced fee frauds and consumer non-investment frauds also scoring highly. Other multiple reports came from dating scams and rental fraud.
From the 404 reports NFIB analysts produced 75 crime reports, which were subsequently sent to 25 different police forces in England, Wales and Scotland. The Metropolitan Police Service was a major beneficiary this month, receiving 28 crime reports.
NFIB website
The new NFIB website (www.nfib.police.uk) went live on Monday June 14th and will be an important source of information for our stakeholders and will help signpost visitors to our many partner organisations. Consumer guidance and all the latest NFIB news is posted on the site, and will soon be supplemented with tackling fraud case studies. Users with the pnn.police.uk address operating from the CJX network can also join a National Fraud Intelligence Bureau Community, hosted by the NPIA and accessed by clicking on the police portal link on the site. The community contains key NFIB documents, such as the fraud doctrine, and gives users the opportunity to pass comments and share best practice. Please log-on to the site and if you can, join the community.
If you have any questions about the NFIB website or require further information for your organisation contact Harry Watkinson at the City of London Police media office on 0207 6012015 or on harry.watkinson@cityoflondon.police.uk. If you are interested in visiting the NFIB hub in Gloucester or in finding out more about how you can join the project on a secondment please contact DCI Waight on 020 7601 6916 or at Richard.waight@cityoflondon.police.uk.
Meet the team
Name and job title:
DCI Richard Waight, Deputy Head of the NFIB
Where have you come from?
Following 10 years in the retail sector of the motor industry I joined the City of London Police. During my 14 years of service I have worked in a variety of detective roles in the CID, Economic Crime and Specialist Operations directorates.
So what do you do?
As Deputy Head of the NFIB I have responsibility for the operational direction of the Bureau, which includes the National Fraud Desk, the National Fraud Analytics team and the Fraud Focus desks. The national remit of the role brings with it opportunities to help influence the law enforcement response to serious organised economic crime, i.e. my ongoing work with SOCA, OFT, and the Mass Marketing Fraud (MMF) Governance Board to create a central hub for MMF intelligence.
When not at your desk you like to...
My better half would say "use my BlackBerry", though having addressed my addiction to the infamous device I now have a life... Aside of the World Cup right now, I have recently taken up sailing and am looking forward to my first race later in the year.
