Fraud victims told: Go to the bank, NOT the police

From Sunday a change in the law, which has been approved by the Home Office, means victims should go to their bank rather than the police station.

The move has been condemned as "astounding" by security experts who suggest it amounts to the privatisation of the justice system.

They say it appears an attempt by the Government, the police and the banks to push the crime, which costs the nation £428 million a year, under the carpet.

The changes are contained in the smallprint of the 2006 Fraud Act, which comes into force on April 1 - April Fools' Day.

Critics warn that police teams with expertise in investigating card fraud are being disbanded - so losing vital expertise in tackling what is a major crime.

They fear that the investigation of card fraud will increasingly be left to bank staff who don't have the knowledge, expertise or powers to do the job properly.

While they suspect the banks will be able to manipulate card fraud figures to mislead the public about the severity of the issue.

In reality, card crime is huge, with just 700,000 individual cases last year, with the average loss per case amounting to £608.

The idea of giving banks more power in this area will alarm many consumers.

People caught up in this sort of fraud routinely find their banks are extremely unhelpful and aggressive.

Often victims are treated as criminals, with suggestions their claims are fabricated.

It often takes victim a great deal of time and hassle to get a refund of the money taken from their account.

In the past, these people could turn to the police for help. However, this avenue will now be closed under a regime which will direct all plastic card crime reports through the banks.

The banks will be responsible for collating figures and passing these on to the police, together with any evidence they uncover of major fraud gangs.

The proposals were spelt out by APACS, which is the trade body for the plastic card operations of the big banks and credit card companies.

It said: "This Sunday, new procedures come into effect in England, Wales and Northern Ireland which means that banks and financial institutions become the first point of contact for cheque, plastic card and online fraud offences.

"In most cases consumers will be required to report instances of this type of fraud straight to their bank or building society and not to the police. It will be up to the financial institution involved, and not the account holder, to pass details of the relevant crime on to the police.

"This change in the way fraud is reported has come about after the introduction of the Fraud Act 2006 and follows discussions between the Home Office, Association of Chief Police Officers and the financial sector.

"The aim is to reduce the level of bureaucracy involved in fraud recording and to streamline the reporting, recording and investigation of such frauds."

Card fraud expert, Andrew Goodwill, managing director of security firm Early Warning UK, condemned the shift in responsibility as 'good news for plastic cheats".

He said: "Everyone knows credit card fraud is a mushrooming problem in Britain. Yet, in effect, from April 1, card fraud is suddenly no longer a police matter, but an industry problem. "Police cheque and plastic crime units are closing their doors across the country."

Mr Goodwill said: "I am astounded at these new rules which will have a  negative impact on the detection of card fraud. "Our police officers received some of the best training in the world when it comes to collecting evidence of fraud.

"Why is it now are we being short changed by allowing the banks to collect this evidence? Fraud is a criminal offence after all.

"What extra training will bank officials receive to do the same job? I doubt any.

"With the banks then reporting these crimes en masse, will the banks report all instances of card fraud to the police in this way or will they pick and chose and just report the ones where they suffer a loss.

"If the banks don't report all card fraud, simply writing some of it off, the result will be a distortion of the extent of credit card crime .

"I believe this new reporting procedure is just a way of pushing what is for the Home Office and the banks an embarrassing problem , under the carpet."

Communications director at APACS, Sandra Quinn, insisted the changes are an attempt to cut bureaucracy.

"This change simply removes an additional level of reporting and will provide greater consistency for the reporting of fraud losses in the UK," she said. "APACS will provide the Home Office with the industry's fraud figures for cheque, plastic and online banking fraud losses - these losses will then be published as part of the government's annual crime figures, thereby giving a more realistic picture of the scale of this type of crime."

She said that where card is taken as a result of a second crime, such as the theft of a wallet or burglary, these second crimes should continue to be reported to the police.

Miss Quinn added: "The threat of fraud is, unfortunately, a part of our daily lives. The industry remains committed to a multi-layered approach to tackling card fraud."