Not a victimless crime: the impact of fraud on individual victims and their families

This article uses data from the largest study of fraud victims in England Wales to date to explore the impact of fraud on victims. Thirty face-to-face interviews and nearly 800 telephone interviews were conducted with fraud victims and family members. Basic demographic data on the profile of victims is provided and compared with victims of other crimes. More comprehensive data are also given relating to the impact of fraud, highlighting financial hardship, broken relationships, psychological effects, mental and physical health problems. The article also highlights secondary impacts, such as damage to reputation and celebrity as well as both positive and negative changes in behaviour. The wide variation in the impact of fraud on victims is highlighted: with some victims reporting little or no impact of fraud whereas others clearly suffer devastating impacts. This destroys the myth of fraud being almost entirely a victimless crime or a crime of lesser impact.