Action Fraud

If you’ve been the victim of a scam, fraud or online crime (cybercrime) you can report it to Action Fraud:

• online

• on 0300 123 2040 (Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm).

Action Fraud is the national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime. It collects reports about fraud on behalf of the police in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. For fraud in Scotland please report it directly to Police Scotland.

Registering with Action Fraud

You can make a report as a guest, without registering and creating an account.

But we recommend you create an account first, because then you’ll be able to:

• save and come back to a report you haven’t finished

• see updates on what’s happened to your report

• add information to your report

• phone Action Fraud to discuss your report

• get updates by email

What you can report to Action Fraud

You can report scams, fraud and online crime (cybercrime) to Action Fraud, except you should report:

• business or personal tax fraud to HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs)

• scams to do with HMRC directly to them

• benefit fraud on GOV.UK

• immigration fraud to the Home Office

• counterfeit (fake) money to the police

• counterfeit (fake) medicine or medical devices to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)

• online child abuse or suspicious online behaviour involving a child to your local police force or to the Child Exploitation Online Protection Command

• online bullying or hate crime to the police

To report one of these please follow the links above.

What happens after you report something to Action Fraud

After you’ve reported something to Action Fraud, your report will be sent to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB), which is part of the City of London police. They’ll decide what to do next.

If the NFIB decide there might be enough information in your report for the police to investigate, they'll send it to the local police force for the place the crime happened. That police force will look at the information and decide whether to investigate the case. They should tell you what they’re going to do.

Whether or not the NFIB decide to send your report on to local police to investigate, you’ll be told what the NFIB have done within 28 days of when you made your report (or whenever you last sent an update).

The NFIB might also take other action, for example to take down websites or phone numbers that are used to commit fraud.

Getting an update on your report

To be able to get an update on your report, you need to register with Action Fraud before you make your report. Then you can track the progress of your report by logging into your account.

After logging in, to check your report’s status click ‘My account’ in the top-right hand corner then click ‘My reports’.

Once a case has been passed to a local police force, they’re responsible for keeping you updated.

Other options if you’ve been scammed or defrauded (civil redress)

If the police decide not to investigate your case as a crime, you might still be able to get compensation or money back by bringing a civil case yourself.

Talk to a solicitor or asset recovery agent to find out more.