DCPCU saves over £30million
Computing / 31st August 2005
The Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Fraud Crime Unit (DCPCU) has helped the financial services industry save more than £30m in the first half of this year, combating a range of offences including online fraud.

Launched in April 2002, the unit receives all of its £2.9m annual funding from the banking sector, represented by industry body Apacs (Computing, 7 July).

Roger Cook, head of the unit, says his team has made about 60 arrests so far this year, and 31 people have been charged.

'We average about 10 arrests a month by the 25 people in the unit, who include police officers, bank investigators and Apacs support staff,' he said.

The unit's success is helping to ensure a good return on investment for its backers, although Cook says the focus of the close links between the industry and his unit is targeting crime.

'The biggest advantage of this unit is that we talk to the banks and they talk to us. We get hot intelligence from them and we pass stuff back to them quickly, which is what makes us successful,' he said.

The DCPCU's achievements, and the way it is funded, are being recognised further afield.

'The EU is interested in our model, and we are meeting representatives soon. We even have officers from Australia who are keen to see how our unit works,' said Cook.

'You have only to look at the figures: we have made savings of £100m in just over three years.'

The trend may extend elsewhere. The Metropolitan Police computer crime unit is appealing for £1m private sector funding, which it says would double the number of cases it could handle (Computing, 7 July).

As the nature of the crimes that fraudsters perpetrate changes with the introduction of chip-and-PIN, and more fraud is potentially driven online, the DCPCU is beginning to reshape its skills.

'We don't specialise in internet crime, so if we have a very technical enquiry, at the moment we would go to the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit or industry leaders such as FraudHalt,' said Cook.

He plans to start sending officers on specialist courses covering computer investigation to improve the DCPCU's online capabilities.