A lack of police officers investigating fraudsters means few travel scams are investigated, according to a fraud expert.
Barry Gooch, chairman of Prevention of Fraud in Trade (Profit) told a Travel Weekly webcast that most businesses have “given up” reporting scams to the police because they don’t get a response.
His comments were echoed by Jackie Steadman, owner of the TravelTime World agency in Berkhamsted, who told the webcast about a stolen credit card being used to book a honeymoon – but the police were not interested in investigating.
Gooch said cuts to the police force meant that the central reporting base, Action Fraud, does not have the resources to investigate most cases.
He also said Profit had an unpaid analyst in Action Fraud to focus on travel scams but that had stopped amid the pandemic.
“Basically, you should report it, but it won’t get looked at unless the value of the individual fraud is over £100,000 because the algorithm and the system will not even look at it.
“Most businesses don’t [report it]…most businesses have given up because they don’t get any response.”
He said an estimated 80,000 police officers are now required to deal with fraud alone, “which is never going to happen…basically they just don’t bother”.
“The only way you’re going get more resources is if the numbers go up,” he added.
He told the webcast about strenuous efforts Profit has made over the years to deal with travel fraudsters, but staff cuts mean there are fewer officers now.
“Over half the police forces in the UK no longer have any fraud specialist,” he said.
“And that includes the Metropolitan Police, who take 50% of all [Action Fraud] reports.
“They actually allocate, on a daily basis, 10 officers to look at fraud for the whole of London which is completely inadequate.”
Even forces that do tackle the problem, such as Durham – which dealt with the recent case of Lyne Barlow – struggle with resources, he said.
Steadman outlined how a stolen credit card was used to book a honeymoon but her agency only found out when the genuine owner spotted her statement.
Fortunately, Steadman contacted the supplier and the holiday had not yet been ticketed so TravelTime World was not affected.
“We reported that straightaway to the police because the cardholder was involved in it,” said Steadman.
“She reported it; we put on a full dossier for them with the passport details and everything.
“The police were not interested. Not interested.”