Fraud

What is fraud?

Fraud is a deliberate act of deception. Fraud can be committed online, face to face, by post or by phone. It may involve (but not be exclusive to):

  • Bribery or collusion.
  • False accounting or representation.
  • Theft or forgery.
  • Extortion or corruption.
  • Embezzlement or misappropriation.

How fraud impacts us

Fraud and cybercrime represent over 50% of crime today. Fraud is estimated to have cost taxpayers between £55 billion and £81 billion in 2024. Each pound lost to fraud, cuts our ability to provide essential public services. It deprives our services of the vital resources they need. Fraud has a direct impact on:

  • The level of Council Tax that we set.
  • The money available to spend on our schools.
  • The money available to spend on the NHS.
  • Crucial services, such as adult social care.

We need to work together to prevent all fraud affecting our services. The main types of fraud affecting councils are:

  • Housing tenancy
  • Grants
  • Council tax support relief
  • Social care
  • Insurance
  • Blue Badge applications
  • Payroll and pensions
  • Procurement
  • Public health.

Reporting fraud

We rely on you to help us identify and stop fraud in Harrow. You can call our fraud hotline, or you can report corporate fraud online.

  • Call our fraud hotline on 020 8424 1834.

Report corporate fraud

Countering fraud

We are required by law to protect the public funds that we administer. Any losses attributed to fraud have a direct impact on us as the authority. We have a team dedicated to protecting public money. They also ensure that public money is spent fairly. The team is called our corporate anti-fraud team (CAFT).

CAFT seeks to publicise cases through local and national media. They have appeared on TV and radio to promote their efforts to counter fraud. CAFT have published the following fraud reports. They aim to promote better transparency of data held and managed by us as a council.

Scams

A scam is a scheme to trick you or another person out of money. Scams are real crimes. They aim to cause financial harm and distress to individuals and businesses. Many scams are currently operating in the UK. They can be carried out by:

  • Post or mail.
  • Phone or text message.
  • Email.
  • Someone knocking on your door.

To avoid scams, you should raise your awareness of common scams. This will protect you and others from becoming victims. You can find out more about fraud, tricks and scams on GOV.UK.

Reporting scams and guidance

If you need help about a scam or potential scam, you can contact us by:

If you think you've been the victim of a scam, or want to report a scam, you can contact: