Fraud During a Pandemic: Identifying and Appraising New Challenges for the Criminal Justice Response in England and Wales

2019冠状病毒病（Covid-19）全球大流行为那些希望利用（系统、组织和人口成员的）新漏洞实施欺诈的人提供了新的机会，这些漏洞是由复杂的网络支持计划推动的。在大流行期间，欺诈行为有所增加，其复杂性也有所增加，这使其成为一个需要深入分析的刑法问题。例如，2020年5月7日，反欺诈行动报告称，1467名冠状病毒相关诈骗受害者共损失2,996,252英镑。收到与冠状病毒相关的网络钓鱼电子邮件6069封。惩罚欺诈行为，特别是针对老年人等弱势群体的欺诈行为，一直被认为是皇家检察署“立即”起诉的优先事项。许多公共机构——国家犯罪局、国家经济犯罪中心（NECC）、内阁府——目前对Covid-19期间的欺诈研究感兴趣。这个研究项目有两个目的。首先，它将描绘出疫情期间欺诈行为的变化情况。这将与皇家检察署（CPS）合作，并与欺诈政策制定者和从业人员进行一系列圆桌讨论。其次，通过批判性地评估与主要欺诈从业者的半结构化访谈，它将为当前如何对新出现的不诚实行为进行指控和起诉提供规范性框架。该项目将产生两篇关于大流行期间欺诈的主要学术文章（一篇理论文章和一篇治理文章），以及一篇关于欺诈治理的政策论文。

The global Covid-19 pandemic has presented new opportunities for those looking to commit fraud, capitalising on new vulnerabilities (of systems, organisations, and members of the population), propelled by sophisticated cyber-enabled schemes. There has been an increase in fraud during the pandemic, as well as an increase in its complexity, which places it front-forward as a criminal law issue which requires advanced analysis. For example, on 7 May 2020, Action Fraud reported that a total of £2,996,252 has been lost by 1467 victims of coronavirus-related scams. 6069 reports of coronavirus-related phishing e-mails were received. Penalising fraud, especially against vulnerable members of the population such as older persons, has been held to be an 'immediate' charging priority for the Crown Prosecution Service. A number of public bodies--the National Crime Agency, the National Economic Crime Centre (NECC), the Cabinet Office--have current interests in fraud research during the time of Covid-19.This research project has two aims. First, it will map the landscape of how fraudulent conduct is changing during the pandemic. This will be achieved in collaboration with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and a series of roundtable discussions with fraud policy-makers and practitioners. Secondly, by critically appraising semi-structured interviews with leading fraud practitioners, it will provide a normative framework for how emerging dishonest conduct ought to be charged and prosecuted at this time.The project will lead to two major academic articles on fraud during a pandemic (a theory piece and a governance piece), and a policy paper on fraud governance.