When fraud is suspected, the first problem is rarely a lack of information. It is disorder.
Messages arrive across different platforms. Payments, names and telephone numbers blur together. Important evidence is deleted, altered or buried. The person affected is expected to contact a bank, secure accounts, report the incident and explain what happened—often while under pressure.
Fraud First Aid is The Verification Desk’s practical incident-response tool. It is designed to help a user slow the situation down, organise what is known and create a clear record of the actions already taken.
What the tool is designed to do
- Triage the incident — identify urgent actions without attempting to diagnose every detail immediately.
- Build a chronology — record contacts, representations, payments and discoveries in time order.
- Organise evidence — separate original material, screenshots, notes and later recollections.
- Track action — record bank contacts, reports, reference numbers, deadlines and reimbursement progress.
Current status
Fraud First Aid is currently a restricted, synthetic-data prototype. It is not yet open for the public submission of real personal, financial or evidential material. This controlled stage allows the workflow, language, privacy safeguards and failure points to be tested before any wider release.
The prototype does not determine whether a crime has occurred, identify an offender, guarantee recovery or replace a bank, solicitor, police service, regulator or official reporting route.
If you suspect fraud now
- Stop further payments and break contact with the suspected sender.
- Contact your bank or payment provider using a trusted number or its official application.
- Secure affected email, banking and social accounts.
- Preserve messages, transaction records, telephone numbers, usernames and URLs.
- Report the incident through the appropriate official route.
The National Cyber Security Centre advises people who have lost money to tell their bank and report the matter as a crime through Report Fraud in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, or Police Scotland in Scotland. See the official NCSC guidance.
Read the operating guide
Fraud First Aid: What to Do in the First 30 Minutes sets out the immediate response sequence and the evidence record to begin.
Early access and professional enquiries
We are developing the prototype cautiously. Organisations interested in testing the workflow with synthetic scenarios can contact The Verification Desk.
Evidence before certainty. Order before assumption.
The Verification Desk distinguishes verified fact, evidence-led inference and unresolved uncertainty. This publication provides general information, not legal, financial, regulatory or emergency advice. Findings reflect the evidence available at publication and may be updated if material evidence changes.
