Volunteer who spends her retirement preventing fraud in Greater Manchester given award

Retired sales assistant who now spends her time as a fraud protect and prevent volunteer has been recognised at the prestigious Chief Constable’s Annual Awards in the Volunteer category for spending her free time preventing fraud across Greater Manchester.

Lynne Wilkinson joined us as a fraud protect and prevent volunteer five years ago. She gives crime prevention advice to those who are at risk of becoming a victim of fraud, and since 2019, Lynne has spent over 500 days out and about in communities across Greater Manchester.

One of Lynne’s children saw an advert on Facebook for a GMP fraud volunteer role in 2019, and even though Lynne at the time did not know much about fraud, she wanted to spend her spare time helping people and applied. Since starting with GMP, she has dedicated at least two days a week to attend fraud events, speaking to victims of economic crime either over the phone or in person for the last 5 years, and she remains an integral part of the Economic Crime Unit.

Lynne shares her vast amount of knowledge on fraud and cybercrime to empower our most vulnerable members of society to protect themselves from economic harm.

Lynne has organised, and taken part in, hundreds of crime prevention stalls in the community, speaking to thousands of people providing them with information that reduces their chances of becoming a victim. She also works hard to protect those who have unfortunately fallen victim to this terrible and impactive crime and her work will have undoubtedly protected people of all ages and backgrounds from fraud.

Lynne with colleagues at fraud prevention stalls across Greater Manchester 

Lynne says the best part about her role is when she can see the confidence in people when she has given them crime prevention advice, they walk away from the crime prevention stalls equipped with knowledge to protect themselves against fraud.

A highlight in Lynne’s volunteering career is the pilot fraud-reducing initiative in Stockport. Over the last couple of months, Lynne, alongside a team of volunteers, have successfully reduced financial losses on volume fraud in Stockport by 53% from January to September 2024, with a 33% decrease in victim numbers.

Part of this work has been building relationships with partner agencies and educating local police officers and staff around fraud prevention advice and Lynne has been instrumental in leading the fight against fraud in local communities.

Read more about this local initiative here: Scammers slammed after new operation reduces fraud in Stockport and Trafford | Greater Manchester Police (gmp.police.uk)

Lynne winning her award at the Chief Constable’s Annual Awards

Detective Superintendent Andy Buckthorpe of GMP’s Economic Crime Unit, said: “Collectively our volunteers all hold a wealth of experience that is invaluable to our unit and Lynne is a longstanding ambassador for fraud prevention and is great asset to our team. 

“With the time she dedicates to us, we are able to reach so many more members of the community and her award is so well deserved.

“On behalf of Greater Manchester Police, I’d like to thank Lynne for all the time she has given over the last 5 years. She is helping to make Greater Manchester safer, and for this we are really grateful for their unwavering positivity and commitment shown towards helping people navigate their way through being a victim of fraud."

On speaking of her award, Lynne says her greatest strength is speaking to older people in the community as she shares the same experiences, concerns and life experiences as them and this is a great skill when giving crime prevention advice out.

Lynne says: “Some people who we speak to at our crime prevention stalls think that fraud is not a real crime, but it really is, and it definitely has the same emotional and financial implications of any other crime type, and that is why it is so important to share prevention advice with everyone.

“Fraudsters target everybody, and it can happen to anyone, so our work focusses on giving the public of all ages and backgrounds proper crime prevention advice to reduce the chances of them becoming a victim of fraud whist also protecting and supporting those who have fallen victim once a fraud has occurred.”

Fraud is the UK’s largest crime, fraud and cybercrime accounts for 40% of all reported crime in the UK. Our fraud volunteers play an integral part in our fight against this time of crime.

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)