Crackdown on fraud to be unveiled

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Sandra Quinn, chief executive of the National Fraud Strategic Authority, said the three-year strategy will help protect consumers and businesses.

Among the proposals is the setting up of a National Fraud Reporting Centre (NFRC).

Ms Quinn said: "At the moment, there is nowhere centrally for people to go and report fraud. People will be able to call or email the centre which will also receive information from businesses including banks.

"There is a lot of organised fraud out there and often it is reasonably small amounts of money but it's being done thousands of times."

She added that Crown Courts will be given extra powers - including the ability to bar solicitors and estate agents from working if they are convicted of fraud.

She said: "Courts will also be able to order compensation to be paid on a wider scale. At the moment a victim has to be named individually in court to get compensation and that will change.

"Fraud has not been treated as a priority by the police and people don't think of it as a priority. It is not a victimless crime. There are people killing themselves as they have all their savings taken and there are small businesses going to the wall. We are not pretending fraud will go away in three years but we will make big inroads into it."

Attorney General, Baroness Scotland QC, said the strategy represented "an emphatic response" to the notion of fraud as a victimless crime.

She said: "Fraud costs every person in the country £231 per year. I am very aware of the financial and personal misery frauds, such as email scams, identity theft, mortgage and credit card fraud, through to Ponzi schemes and share sale frauds, can inflict on consumers and businesses."