The policy paper framed fraud as a system-wide threat and said that delivery will rely on stronger coordination across government, police, private-sector platforms, and civil society. It also pointed to operational measures including a new public-private Online Crime Centre, an expanded “Stop! Think Fraud” campaign, and the rollout of the Report Fraud service as part of the state response.
While the strategy page does not center crypto as a standalone chapter in its summary text, blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis said digital-asset flows are now too large to treat as peripheral. In comments shared with Decrypt, Jordan Wain, UK Public Policy Lead at Chainalysis, said that globally in 2025, “up to $17 billion in crypto was transferred to addresses associated with scams and fraud,” adding that industrialized scam networks are increasingly using AI-enabled social engineering and pig-butchering tactics.
Wain said the UK has “long been leading by example” on fraud policy and argued that the latest strategy can go further by hard-wiring blockchain analytics into existing fraud-sharing frameworks spanning banks, fintechs, telecoms, online platforms, and crypto firms. He added that crypto’s transparency creates a “powerful flywheel of fraud disruption,” affording investigators visibility into financial flows that is often harder to achieve in traditional finance.
Crypto fraud around the worldA central pressure point highlighted by the report is geography: with roughly three-quarters of fraud against UK individuals and businesses described by Chainalysis as originating from, or being facilitated from, overseas, Wain said the strategy should be treated as a “transnational security challenge” rather than a purely domestic consumer-crime initiative.
The report highlighted the cross-border nature of cryptocurrency, with “poly-criminal” fraud operations incorporating human trafficking, money laundering and organized crime spreading beyond hubs such as Southeast Asia to South America and even Europe.
