A government-backed review of fraud in the UK has warned that magistrates and judges in England and Wales are not adequately prepared for an expected rise in cases tied to cryptocurrency money laundering and AI-enabled scams.

The report urges the Judicial College, which trains the judiciary in England and Wales, to examine how all judges, including magistrates, can be better equipped for a growing caseload involving crypto-assets, cross-border transfers and fraud schemes using artificial intelligence.

Review warns of a changing fraud landscape

The review says tools that were once mainly available to sophisticated criminal groups are now far more accessible. As a result, courts are likely to face cases with a level of scale and complexity that many magistrates and non-specialist Crown Court centres have not previously handled.

According to the report, those cases are expected to combine several difficult features at once, including AI-enabled conduct, cross-border movement of funds and the use of cryptocurrencies to launder money or other assets.

Concern over court readiness beyond major cities

The report says the most complex fraud work is still concentrated among a relatively small group of judges in major urban centres. That leaves regional Crown Courts with less experience, and in some cases less infrastructure, for managing complicated fraud trials.

Existing training is available through the Judicial College’s Long and Complex Trials course, but the review notes that it is optional and can be crowded out by other training demands. The concern is that this model may not be enough if complex fraud cases become more common across a wider spread of courts.

Call for a dedicated training module

The review recommends that the Judicial College consider updating or replacing the current course with a bespoke module focused on fraud and related offences. It also raises the question of whether that training should become mandatory for any judge likely to preside over serious or complex fraud proceedings.

The report says there would be value in giving the wider judiciary a stronger working awareness of how to manage cases involving AI-driven fraud and cryptocurrency-based money laundering, rather than limiting that expertise to a narrower specialist group.

Scale of the problem in England and Wales

The review says fraud could soon account for half of all crime in England and Wales. It cites an estimated 4.1 million fraud offences in the year to June 2025, affecting one in 14 adults and one in four businesses.

It also points to signs that both crypto and AI are already prominent in the threat picture. More than half of investment scams now involve crypto-assets, according to the Financial Ombudsman Service, while a survey found that 58% of respondents had encountered AI-enabled financial fraud. Despite that, enforcement remains limited: only 13% of fraud outcomes result in a charge or summons, which the report describes as roughly one for every 54 reports.

What happens next

The immediate next step set out by the review is for the Judicial College to assess how best to prepare the judiciary for this shift in fraud cases. That includes deciding whether existing optional training is sufficient or whether a new, more targeted programme is needed.

If adopted, the proposal would widen preparation beyond the current specialist centres and could make training on complex fraud, crypto laundering and AI-related offending a standard requirement for judges expected to hear those cases.

Source: decrypt.co