UK justice system ‘ill-equipped’ for rise in fraud, say MPs

Large increases were seen in the number of scams where money was paid upfront for goods or services,that failed to materialise. Photograph: Sandy Gasperoni/Alamy

The UK’s justice system is “ill-equipped” to tackle a spiralling fraud epidemic and needs a rapid overhaul, a cross-party committee of MPs has concluded.

The justice select committee found that traditional crimes were being wrongly prioritised by police and prosecutors in a report released on Tuesday, and described Action Fraud, the UK’s centre for collating allegations of cybercrime, as “unfit for purpose”.