£1.1 million recovered for fraud victims in Hertfordshire by Commissioner’s specialist team

The Beacon Fraud Hub was created to contact and support everyone who reports to the police or Action Fraud having been defrauded
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Fraud victims have recovered more than £1 million thanks to a specialist team set up by the Police and Crime Commissioner for Hertfordshire.

The award-winning Beacon Fraud Hub was created by David Lloyd to contact and support everyone who reports to the police or Action Fraud having been defrauded.

Now, less than two years after its creation, it has got £1.1 million back for many of the thousands of victims it has helped.

Mr Lloyd at Hertfordshire's Beacon victims centreMr Lloyd at Hertfordshire's Beacon victims centre
Mr Lloyd at Hertfordshire's Beacon victims centre

The unit, based at the Beacon victim care centre, in Welwyn Garden City, was set up by Mr Lloyd in April 2019.

Mr Lloyd said: “This is a fantastic result for the Beacon Fraud Hub and all the people who have got money back.

"Fraud is the most prevalent crime across the county, and I am determined to tackle it in every way we can.

“This is a unique scheme we have created for Hertfordshire and it is already paying dividends in less than two years. We invested £198,000, mainly from government funds, and it has returned £1.1m.

“I would like to thank the team for all their extraordinary work and their dedication for working with victims on a one-to-one level to advocate and advise on their behalf.”

Chief Constable Charlie Hall said: “I would like to congratulate the team for their efforts over the past two years. £1.1million is a significant sum of money to have been recovered for victims in Hertfordshire.

"For each and every one of those victims, the work done by the team will I am sure have done much to mitigate the harm they have suffered as a result of being targeted by fraudsters.”

Last month the Fraud Hub, which has four members of staff, won the Outstanding Customer Service Initiative category of national Tackling Economic Crime Awards (TECAs).

It was also hailed as the ‘gold standard’ of victim support at a College of Policing fraud conference.

Every month a list of around 650 Hertfordshire fraud victims are sent to the Hub. The list comes from those who have reported a crime to Action Fraud, via City of London police which leads nationally on tackling and investigating the crime.

The Fraud Hub develop an action plan for victims which includes, where necessary, liaising with agencies on their behalf; conducting a needs assessment; providing practical support and measures for target hardening.

Though not set-up to investigate the crime or recover lost funds, they have been able to help victims retrieve stolen money through effective advocacy with financial institutions.

The Beacon Fraud Hub is now an integral part of the County Fraud Strategy where substantive links have been made with Citizens Advice and Age UK.

The majority of the £198,000 running costs were paid for by a Ministry of Justice Grant, applied for by the PCC’s office following the idea to create the Fraud Hub.

Hertfordshire Beacon is staffed by Victim Service Team each day 8am till 8pm, in addition, Catch22 employees work Monday to Friday 8am till 8pm and Saturday 9am till 5pm, you can contact them by calling 0300 011 55 55 or emailing [email protected] or [email protected].