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<p>The Department uses the definition as set out by the Home Office - ‘’ We define
serious and organised crime as individuals planning, co-ordinating and committing
serious offences, whether individually, in groups and/or as part of transnational
networks’’.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has a strong counter-fraud function, which
includes specifically targeting serious and organised crime including cyber-crime,
which identifies and stops illegal activity and saves money for the taxpayer.</p><p>Current
estimates are that serious and organised crime directly accounts for no more than
6% of the £7.4 billion of benefit fraud reported in the 2023/24 statistics, as it
is most likely captured in the Abroad and Conditions of Entitlement (Identity) categories
of fraud reported there.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p>
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