Justice Department Consumer Protection Branch Director Michael Blume is promising the section will pursue criminal charges more aggressively against fraudsters.

In a speech late last week to the Consumer Federation of America and in an e-mail, Blume said a unit will be set up in his branch to pursue criminal charges in much the same way a DOJ consumer branch successfully used intense means to gather and analyze information in the wake of the financial crisis.

Blume said his branch is aiming to be more proactive by using data analytics more, reaching out to experts inside and outside the federal government to better understand financial markets in an up-to-the-minute way and to provide better coordination.

Blume revealed his Justice Department section is working on a wide variety of cases with the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ranging from mass-marketing consumer fraud to fraudulent lending practices to the role various actors in the payment system play in knowingly facilitating fraud.