ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the concept of providing support to fraud victims and the type of support required by fraud victims. It outlines the main challenges that currently prevent victims from seeking support services. Fraud has one of the lowest reporting rates across many crime types. There are other factors which relate to the low reporting of fraud which can also be seen to contribute to an inability of victims to gain support. This includes a lack of acknowledgement or recognition that victimisation has occurred. The negative reporting experience of fraud victims is another critical factor that inhibits victims from seeking support. Some of the most important needs relate to justice and desire for their case to be investigated, the offender caught and an appropriate sanction applied. In one of the studies to explicitly examine social support as it relates to fraud victimisation, Mason and Benson found that 'friends and family members strongly influence how fraud victims respond to their victimisation'.
