The government has announced a new fraud strategy to stop scams and protect the public. Commenting on the plans, Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, said:
“Fraud now accounts for over 40% of crime. It costs us nearly £7 billion a year and we know these proceeds are funding organised crime and terror. What’s more, new technologies are making these scams easier to do and harder to police.
“It’s time to take the fight to the scammers and fraudsters, and put an end to these crimes which can devastate lives and livelihoods within seconds”.
A raft of measures, to be introduced as part of the government’s new fraud strategy, focus on:
Clamping down on the methods scammers use to target people
New government measures will include:
- Stopping ‘SIM farms’, which are devices that allow fraudsters to send thousands of phishing texts to multiple people at once
- Working with Ofcom to stop ‘spoofing’, technology that allows scammers impersonate UK numbers such as those belonging to banks, HMRC or other trusted organisations
- Banning cold calls for financial products, so that anyone who receives a call regarding an investment opportunity will know it’s a scam
Bringing scammers to justice
New government measures will include:
- Launching a National Fraud Squad, led by the National Crime Agency and the City of London Police, which will be supported by 400 new roles
- Working with international partners, and utilising the UK’s intelligence community, to target fraudsters operating overseas
Protecting the public:
New government measures will include:
- Investing £30 million in a new reporting facility
- Working with social media platforms to make it easier to report fraud
- Working with banks to allow more time for suspicious payments to be investigated to stop people from falling victim to crime
