Economic Crime Unit officers given Chief Constable Commendations for work to reduce phone fraud in Greater Manchester

Police Staff Paul Fletcher and Police volunteer Pete McEvoy who work within the Economic Crime Unit were awarded with a Chief Constable's Commendation for their hard work to reduce phone fraud in Greater Manchester.

This week, the Economic Crime Unit are conducting a week of activity dedicated to preventing and tackling economic related offences in greater Manchester which gives us a fantastic opportunity to highlight some really good work from officers and staff within the unit.

Since 2017, Greater Manchester Police have been working to fit call blocking devices into the homes of those that are most vulnerable to nuisance callers and fraud. The devices were rolled out to neighbourhoods and later the Economic Crime Unit but uptake was proving to be slow.

Around 18 months ago, Paul and Pete, who work under the prevent and protect strand of the unit supporting fraud prevention, saw an opportunity to get more call blocking devices out to those in the communities of Greater Manchester who need the devices to block nuisance callers and phone fraud.

Paul has created an excellent multi-agency relationship between the manufacturers of the call blocking devices and trading standards, which allows for Greater Manchester Police to obtain the units free of charge to ensure that they can be given to some of the most vulnerable residents in our communities.

Paul and Pete then took personal responsibility for establishing who was most in need for these devices. Pete, who has volunteered for GMP for over three years presents at two community events a week to those vulnerable members of our community generates his own work to understand the demographics of Greater Manchester and where these devices are needed the most. He then links in with Paul, who arranges getting the devices fitted.

Paul reviews all the data that comes from Action Fraud on a weekly basis and assesses which individuals may be suitable for a device.

He then sets out getting those devices fitted into the homes of those most vulnerable providing a service which gets consistent positive feedback from the public.

On top of this he keeps a record of all those devices fitted and provides a bespoke follow up service to check the devices are working as they should be, instilling confidence back to victims.

Since 2017, through their passion, drive and determination, Greater Manchester Police have installed 146 call blockers to protect older and vulnerable people from nuisance and scam phone calls. So far 32,475 calls have been blocked, and it is estimated that 53 scams have been prevented.

In the last financial year, Paul has fitted more alarms than in the previous five years combined.

Detective Inspector Jill Billington of GMP’s prevent team, said: “I am immensely proud of the work that Paul and Pete have done for the communities of Greater Manchester. I recently attended the National Fraud Prevent and Protect conference where Paul and Pete were named personally and GMP highlighted on the stage as excelling in this area and it is right that their work is being recognised.

“It is so important that we continue to prevent fraud, the work that they do is nothing short of outstanding and has undoubtedly protected many people in our communities and they are an absolute credit to our team.”

After their father was called by a fraudster demanding mortgage payments over the phone, his son was thankful for the work of Pete and Paul, he said: “Paul, yours & your teams professionalism has been amazing. You have all cared so much & built up a rapport with him immediately & getting the phone monitoring service in so quickly and giving us feedback has been exemplary.

“I can’t thank you all enough.”

Could you be a volunteer to fight fraud and keep our communities safe? Keep an eye out for volunteer recruitment opportunities on Careers | Greater Manchester Police (gmp.police.uk)