21 June 2007
BBC2's consumers affairs programme Newsnight revealed that the responsibility for referring on credit card fraud cases now lies squarely with the lenders and not with the Home Office.
Under new legislation brought in this April, victims of credit card fraud should no longer approach the police if their credit cards have been taken or their identities stolen and instead, should contact their bank who will decide if the matter should be referred to the justice system or not.
Critics of the new policy claim that this is a means to hiding the actual figures of credit card fraud, prompting Tory e-crime spokesman James Brokenshire to declare: "The government clearly hasn't got a grip on this issue or an appreciation of the seriousness or scale of the problem."
A Home Office spokesman responded by stating that the move would increase the chances of consumers who had been affected by credit card fraud to experience a "positive outcome", since its in the financial institutions' best interest to do so.
"On occasions where financial institutions recognise there is insufficient evidence to support a police investigation they may choose not to report a crime," he added.
APACS' Director of Communications Sandra Quinn told Newsnight that the police simply didn't have the resources to cope with minor credit card fraud problem.
She also stressed that banks would not protect their staff if they were found to be the ones committing the crime, insisting: "It is not in our interests as an industry to not be up front about this. One of our great concerns is the security of our customers' money."
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