Home Office to fund e-crime unit

The Home Office is set to fund an e-crime unit - but it will be run by a fraud body and not the Metropolitan Police, as previously expected.

MP Vern Croaker told the Science and Technology committee in Parliament yesterday that the Home Office would fund such a unit, but the budget for the multi-million-pound project wasn't available yet.

And rather than the 'Police Central e-crime Unit' (PCEU) detailed by Detective Superintendent Charlie McMurdie at Infosec earlier this year, the unit would be part of the National Fraud Reporting Centre (NFRC).

"Within reason, the Home Office will look to fund a law enforcement capability alongside the NRFC," Croaker told MPs.

While that body predominantly focuses on fraud, the unit would deal with any e-crime and have law enforcement abilities.

"What we'd like to develop, as part of the National Fraud Reporting Centre is an integrated approach to reporting e-crime," he said. "We'd like to see all reports of fraud sent to NRFC. [It will become] almost a one-stop shop for reporting fraud, a large part of which will be internet crime."

"If all of these reports of fraud are going to the NFRC, it's the famous 'so what' question," he said. "What happens after that?"

With files from Barry Collins, PC PRO

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