Virgin Media 02 reignites calls to crack down on fraud as Brits lose £600m

Virgin Media 02 has called on the new Labour government to appoint a dedicated minister for fraud and set up a centralised, specialised national body to handle investigations.

The telecom giant has argued that current law enforcement resources regarding fraud “remain inadequate” despite fraudulent activity representing 40 per cent of all crime in the UK.

In a statement, Virgin Media 02 said that national action is crucial to curb fraud – adding that fraudsters stole just shy of £600m from Brits in the first half of 2024 alone.

The call from Virgin Media 02 comes after the previous Conservative government launched a major campaign against fraudsters earlier this year.

According to new freedom of information (FOI) requests, released by Virgin Media 02, some police services had only a handful of fraud convictions last year, with an average of only 84 fraud convictions made from each service last year.

Three police services in the UK also lack an officer dedicated to fraudulent investigation, the telecoms giant said.

Of the cases that are reported to Action Fraud, only six per cent actually reached investigation in the past fiscal year, it added.

Of those too, only few resulted in charges, with the latest Home Office data revealing a 10 per cent deduction year on year.

Virgin Media 02’s call for fraud to be a national priority comes soon after last week’s report from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which reported that 55 per cent of UK adults have experience data theft or loss.

ICO’s commissioner John Edwards emphasised that organisations should recognise this human impact of data breaches.

He said: “Organisations need to understand that the harm doesn’t end with the breach – that is only where it begins”.

With almost 30m people affected and 32 per cent learning of breaches through media rather than direct notification, the ICO is pushing organisations to improve their data protection practices.

“The stakes are too high to get it wrong. At the end of the day, it’s not just about protecting data. It’s about protecting people”, added Edwards.