Introduction

Abstract

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on approaches and perspectives on contemporary UK frauds and financial crimes. It begins with the formal recognition by the UK government in the early 2000s that fraud was an emerging significant public problem. The book seeks to bring together the narrative of the policy and strategic approaches to frauds and financial crimes in order to learn from the current research what may be the inhibitors and facilitators of more effective responses. It provides the substantive research and analysis which offer insights into approaches and perspectives on contemporary UK frauds and financial crimes. The book examines the overview in assessing how the national strategic responses to frauds and financial crimes have developed in England and Wales and – where the writ of devolved governments does not run – in the UK as a whole.