Fraud Update April 2026

Good Morning Resident

I’d like to introduce myself as one of the Fraud Ambassadors for North Yorkshire Police. 

Across the force, we have a small team of officers who have a more specialised role within the prevention of fraud. We, as a team, assist colleagues across North Yorkshire, whether as a follow up to a reported incident, or to visit groups and financial institutions to offer preventative information to warn against the methods used by criminals and methods to protect our residents. We are made up of Police Community Support Officers and Police Constables, and this is an extra part of our duties. 

We also have a fantastic Financial Abuse Safeguarding Officer, Rachel Graham. You may have seen her in the news previously as her work was highlighted for recovering over £1 million last year for victims of fraud. Since April 2025, her work has seen a recovery of loss of over £2.1 million for victims of fraud in North Yorkshire. Over a quarter of a million pounds of this figure appertains to money which was prevented from being sent to criminals in the first place. By working as a team these reimbursements have been possible for fraud victims.

People think that fraud only affects the older generation, but this so far from the truth. There are many different people within our communities who can fall foul of a scam, and it doesn’t necessarily have to occur over the phone. 

A badly timed email when you are up to your eyeballs in stress, a momentary lapse in your thought patterns can result in a loss of information and/or money. 

A realistic logo on a website, a special price which is about to end, an offer you can’t afford to miss, a link from a friend on social media, or a share from trusted Facebook group – you can part with money. Especially when PayPal doesn’t work and you have to send that bank transfer instead…. 

Fraudsters, Scammers – Criminals will continue to find ways to take information and money from us… But this message isn’t all doom and gloom, we have had some positive information that processes we use are working. 

Our network of Fraud Ambassadors keeps a close working relationship with the banks and building societies in our communities, promoting the banking protocol. This is a safeguarding process which prevented £58.8 million from being lost to fraud victims nationwide last year. 

We have a wide range of information which we have begun to distribute via email, to reduce the costs of the printing and to ensure the information is readily available. 

If you would like a copy of The Little Book of Big Scams or the Think Jessica publication ‘Don’t Fall For A Scam’ please let me know by clicking the reply button at the bottom of this message. 

Kind Regards 

Nathan