Fraud and Economic Crime
Each ROCU has a dedicated Economic Crime Unit made up of specialist financial investigators and analysts tackling offenders linked to fraud, money laundering and possession of criminal property.
The ROCU network’s economic crime units have a number of specialist teams who act on behalf of police forces to investigate financial crime and strip assets from criminals.
Their teams comprise a range of capabilities which investigate organised crime groups relating to financial crime, including significant money laundering investigations.
Proactive Economic Crime Teams (PECTs) investigate significant frauds, many of which often spread wider throughout the United Kingdom and abroad.
Other dedicated teams look to use Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) legislation to ensure that criminals are stripped of their illicit earnings, to ensure that crime doesn’t pay.
Specialist investigators continually review offenders with outstanding orders to ensure any assets they materialise are pursued in line with the court order.
Proceeds of crime
Proceeds of crime is the term given to money or assets gained by criminals during the course of their criminal activity. Powers under Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) legislation allow ROCUs to seek to confiscate these assets to ensure that crime does not pay.
ROCUs' Economic Crime Units are made up of specialist financial investigators who have a number of tools to target those thought to have profited from criminal activity.
How POCA legislation can be used
Restraint orders - preserve a suspect’s assets until a confiscation order is paid in full.
Confiscation orders – require a convicted defendant to pay a sum of money immediately or within a fixed period of time.
Civil recovery - proceeds of crime can be recovered in civil proceedings against property which can be shown to have been purchased using illicit money.
The Regional Fraud Forums
The Regional Fraud Forums have been set up with the aim of increasing the resilience of regional organisations – in both the private and public sector – to the threats posed by fraud. Run as a collaboration between professional advisors, industry members, the Police and other governmental agencies, the objective of the Forum is simple: to promote fraud awareness, to allow members to understand how best to mitigate against the risks involved, and to increase knowledge of how to respond effectively to fraud if and when it occurs.
The North West Fraud Forum
Yorkshire and Humber Fraud Forum
The Midlands Fraud Forum
The South West Fraud Forum
London Fraud Forum