Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to (a) prevent, (b) protect people from and (c) warn people about scams related to the covid-19 outbreak.

The Government is aware that fraudsters are exploiting the pandemic to commit opportunistic crimes such as fraud. Along with partners in law enforcement, the public sector and the private and third sectors, we have been implementing measures to ensure the public has the protection and advice needed to shield themselves from these crimes.

This has included working alongside the National Cyber Security Centre to establish a new Suspicious Email Reporting Service. This service allows the public to report potential scams safely and effectively. To date, this has already led to over 13,000 scams being thwarted and taken down. Members of the public can forward suspicious emails to this address: report@phishing.gov.uk

However, law enforcement cannot do this alone. In addtion, the public should be well-informed on the steps they can take to guard against becoming the victim of crime. That is why we have launched a gov.uk page that contains easy-to-follow steps for people to spot potential frauds and the steps they can take to avoid them. It also signposts advice and support to those who may unfortunately have fallen victim. This page can currently be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-fraud-and-cyber-crime