Among the invited speakers at the IIR European plastic card and online fraud conference in London on April 28 and 29 are Sandra Quinn. She’s the interim chief exec of the National Fraud Strategic Authority (NFSA).
Briefly, that is the body set up by the government in October to deliver the national fraud strategy, which follows The Fraud Review, published in July 2006. According to the government, it wants fraud to be seen no longer as a victimless crime, but as a parasite and a burden to the economy that can no longer be tolerated. However there are doubts as to how fully the NFSA and a proposed fraud reporting centre can get to grips with the sheer number of cases, not least card fraud from beyond the European Union. Quinn was seconded to the authority from the Financial Services Authority which she joined in 1997. Briefly, an ‘Inter-Ministerial Group’ is working on the strategy; a board will report to it. The NFSA has already stressed that it wants to work with the private sector, regulators and law enforcers, for example against mortgage fraud (whereby serious criminals acquire property and steal funds); and staged motor vehicle accidents (to defraud insurers). The NFSA seeks also to measure how much fraud there is, and what types, so that it knows better what to do. As Sandra Quinn said late last year: “The NFSA is committed to removing the enablers of fraud, as much as it is to addressing specific fraud threats … Fraudsters, however, are fiercely entrepreneurial, so to make the UK a harder target for fraud it is essential everyone in the counter-fraud community maintains strong and effective co-operation.”
Other speakers include Colin Whittaker, head of security at APACS; Prof Martin Gill of consultants and researchers Perpetuity; and Lachlan Gunn, who co-ordinates the European ATM Security team. Visit www.iir-conferences.com/plasticcard
Visit www.attorneygeneral.gov.uk/nfsa
