Crime agency boss vows to make UK 'inhospitable' for fraudsters

The Serious Fraud Office have launched a crack down
SFO

The new head of the Serious Fraud Office has vowed to make Britain an “inhospitable place” for the “world’s most sophisticated criminals” as she promised to bring Chicago-style law enforcement to this country.

Lisa Osofsky, a former US prosecutor, said she would be “a different kind of director” at the SFO and would adopt “proactive” tactics to fight off attempts by criminals to exploit volatility in Britain’s already “buzzing” markets.

She said her methods would include more use of “human source” intelligence and online analysis to identify emerging threats.

There would also be co-operation with other law enforcers both in the UK and overseas, greater use of artificial intelligence to prepare cases, and a new focus on using information provided by charities and other “non-governmental organisations”.

Lisa Osofsky has vowed to make the UK 'inhospitable' to fraudsters

Ms Osofsky’s comments, in a speech in Cambridge, are her first since she took over as the director of the Serious Fraud Office last week.

Ms Osofsky, who has British as well as US nationality, said: “The most complicated and difficult cases require a worldwide effort to bring criminals around the globe to justice.

“My approach will be proactive and this means working with more and more of you — from intel to inception to investigation to trial to recovering the proceeds of crime.

“The markets are buzzing. Criminals thrive on volatility; they exploit it. Look at the IT failures at Lloyds TSB. Fraudsters jumped on this, leaving many innocent victims in their wake.

“As head of a crime-fighting agency, I am committed to making our country an inhospitable place for criminals like these.”

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