Enhanced intelligence unit created to aid fight against fraud

APACS, the UK payments association, has announced the creation of the Payment Industry and Police Joint Intelligence Unit (PIPJIU) as an integral part of the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit (DCPCU). This enhanced intelligence unit is the result of the amalgamation of the banking industry’s Fraud Intelligence Bureau (FIB) – the body that formerly distributed information between the banking industry and law enforcement throughout the UK – and the intelligence section of the DCPCU.

As well as providing a more efficient approach to the collation and dissemination of fraud intelligence to police forces throughout the country, this new unit will have wider reaching responsibilities to address all types of banking fraud; not just cheque and plastic card fraud. PIPJIU will be staffed by banking industry fraud specialists working alongside officers from the City of London and Metropolitan Police.

In addition to this merger, APACS has also unveiled a new Fraud Intelligence Sharing System (FISS) that will enable the banking industry to share information on all confirmed, attempted and suspected fraud in a central, shared database. Established specifically to combat banking-related fraud in the UK, the system will provide the industry with a secure and robust reporting mechanism, supporting the industry’s long-term fraud prevention strategy.

Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker said: "We welcome these new intelligence sharing initiatives. The Home Office is committed to the principle of data sharing to help prevent fraud and has recently legislated to make provision for data sharing between the public and private sectors. We wish the PIPJIU and the FISS every success and are delighted to see such commitment to driving down fraud from both the banks and the police."

Operational with immediate effect, the PIPJIU is managed by Detective Inspector Graham Goodwin and consists of 15 staff, including ten police officers and civilian staff from the City of London and Metropolitan Police and five seconded banking industry specialists.

DCI John Folan, Head of the DCPCU, said: “The combined investment by the banking industry in the DCPCU, the enhanced joint intelligence unit and the new data sharing system now totals almost £5 million per year. With this increased funding and a wider remit, our primary objective is to build on the already successful work undertaken by the banking industry and the DCPCU in combating fraud. We are confident that the merging of APACS’s Fraud Intelligence Bureau and the DCPCU’s intelligence unit will aid efficiency and help in the ongoing fight to combat all types of banking fraud.”

PIPJIU will support the work already being carried out by the DCPCU. Launched in April 2002, the DCPCU has been responsible for more than £230 million in savings from reduced fraud activity and has recovered more than 244,000 counterfeit cards and card numbers. It has also secured 156 convictions and made almost 400 arrests on fraud-related matters.

The payments industry continues to commit and invest funds in programmes and initiatives to fight fraud. Over the past five years, the industry has:

Implemented the rollout of chip and PIN in the UK – a £1.1 billion investment
Encouraged cardholder and retailer take-up of MasterCard SecureCode and Verified by Visa - secure online payment systems that help prevent online shopping fraud
Managed and promoted use of the Industry Hot Card File (IHCF) – an electronic database that enables retailers to check whether a card is being used fraudulently. Over 750,000 cases of attempted fraud have been prevented by this system in the past two years.