This week, the UK government announced that a new AI tool helped recover nearly £500 million lost to fraud in just one year. Ministers hailed it as the largest anti-fraud clawback ever achieved, with savings now earmarked for public services.
On the surface, this is good news. It proves something important: AI works in the fight against fraud. By cross-referencing data across departments, the government identified fraudulent Covid loans, unlawful council tax claims, and illegal subletting of social housing. A single case even uncovered a woman who invented a company, pocketed a Bounce Back Loan, and shipped the money to Poland.
But behind the headlines lies a deeper truth — one that matters profoundly for millions of ordinary citizens.
Who Is Being Protected?
The government’s AI tool is designed to protect public funds. It safeguards the Treasury, making sure taxpayer money isn’t siphoned away. That’s important — but it’s only one side of the fraud story.
What about the individuals whose pensions were looted, whose bank accounts were drained, or whose investments were mis-sold? What about the ordinary people who lost everything to sophisticated scams while regulators looked the other way?
For them, there is no £500 million recovery. No summit. No AI system tirelessly working day and night to put their lives back together.
The Missing Half of the Justice Equation
The pandemic Bounce Back Loan scheme has been criticised for being too lax, almost inviting fraud. Many businesses dissolved before repaying, and the state was left to pick up the tab. That tells us something crucial:
Fraud is rarely just about bad actors. It’s about systemic weaknesses — in policies, in oversight, in governance.
The government’s AI now scans for weaknesses before they can be exploited. That’s smart policy. But imagine if individuals had the same ability — to scan their financial products, contracts, and investments for vulnerabilities before being trapped in cycles of harm.
That’s the vision behind Get SAFE (Support After Financial Exploitation).
Empowerment from the Bottom-Up
At Get SAFE, we believe AI shouldn’t just be a weapon of the state. It should be a tool of empowerment for citizens. That’s why we’re building a grassroots model of justice, giving victims of financial crime access to the same kind of technology that governments and corporations already use.
Our digital playbook helps people:
- 📂 Organise evidence into professional, case-ready dossiers
- 🕵️ Spot systemic patterns of abuse across cases
- ✉️ Generate professional correspondence to regulators, MPs, and the media
- 🤝 Collaborate as citizen investigators, building collective strength
While the Cabinet Office’s Fraud Risk Assessment Accelerator protects national policy, Get SAFE empowers individuals to protect their households, their communities, and their futures.
Why This Matters
Civil liberties groups rightly warn about the dangers of unchecked state AI — bias, opacity, and lack of accountability. At Get SAFE, we take the opposite approach: transparency, bias-awareness, and victim control.
Because justice is not just about recovering money at the top. It’s about restoring agency at the bottom. It’s about ensuring that when ordinary people are defrauded, they have tools to fight back, stories that get heard, and pathways to redress.
The Road Ahead
The government’s £500m recovery is proof that AI can change the game. But it also highlights a glaring gap: the absence of equivalent tools for the very people who suffer most from financial exploitation.
That’s the gap Get SAFE exists to fill.
We are building a world where AI doesn’t just protect treasuries — it empowers citizens. Where technology doesn’t just scan for fraud in policy — it helps families recover from it in practice.
Because true justice can’t just flow from the top down.
It must rise, powerfully, from the bottom up.
👉 Join us in making that future real. Learn more about Get SAFE and how you can support victims in turning technology into empowerment.
#FraudPrevention #AIForGood #FinancialJustice #GetSAFE #Transparency #CitizenInvestigators
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