Human, institutional, political and technological factors involved in a public health approach to frauds against individuals

The paper describes briefly evolving data on frauds against individuals globally, political reactions to those frauds and how they vary. Based on an earlier study for West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner's Office, it reviews the dynamics of developing approaches to the policing of cyber-enabled frauds against ‘the public’ – focused particularly on the UK and how this might differ in other European countries; what is known about public and private sector measures taken to reduce actual frauds and their impacts; and what a public health approach to frauds to parallel approaches to violence reduction might entail. Interventions might include: shrink the pool of potential and actual offenders; reduce the number of victims; reduce the number of repeat and ‘especially vulnerable’ victims; reduce the size of frauds within each fraud category; repair the well-being of distressed victims and reduce the ‘unproductive’ fears of the general public (consistent with giving them the motivation and tools to resist offers that may later become frauds). Greater attention is now being paid by many governments, financial institutions and law enforcement to frauds on the public, but knowledge is negative or weak about many impacts of law enforcement and public health interventions, including counter-fraud advertising for the general public. Although some initiatives are promising, warning the public will have only a moderate impact unless it takes account of the dynamics of fraud techniques, social engineering of victims and the need for support for ‘the vulnerable’, a term that requires greater clarity. More needs to be done both to create space for earlier and post-fraud education, mental health support and impact measurement. At present, a public health approach to fraud lacks some financial and institutional underpinnings to take off, but it is a conceptually appropriate approach that requires more clarity, political and resource support for enhanced effectiveness.