SmartSearch comment on HMRC taskforce - Must avoid becoming busy fools

03 March 2021

Commenting on the £100m investment in the HMRC taskforce announced by the Chancellor in today’s Budget, John Dobson, CEO at AML specialists SmartSearch, said: “This is a positive announcement by the Chancellor and more than 1,000 new investigators may go some way to recouping the £billions which have been lost to fraud over the past 12 months of the coronavirus crisis.

“There’s no doubt that extra resources are much in need, particularly as the Chancellor has also announced a new Restart fund for businesses to replace the Bounce Back loans, which was wide open to fraud.

“But it’s also vital that a significant amount of that £100m investment goes into the systems used by HMRC to find those responsible for fraud. Without the use of the latest digital platforms to run ID checks and verify information on a global scale, these investigators will be in danger of just becoming busy fools.”