Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help provide consumers with the (a) knowledge and (b) tools to protect themselves against scammers.

Fraudsters are sophisticated and will exploit any vulnerabilities they can, especially as more of us find ourselves at home and online.

The Government recognises the serious risks presented by scams and fraud and the huge financial and emotional impact they can have on victims. We are working collaboratively with law enforcement and the private sector to reaffirm messages to consumers setting out how they can protect themselves from fraud and scams.

We know one of the best ways to deal with these crimes is for consumers to be well-informed on how to protect themselves. That is why we published guidance on how to spot potential frauds and the steps to take to avoid them. This advice can be accessed at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-fraud-and-cyber-crime.

Alongside this, consumers can also keep abreast of scam and fraud trends through alerts provided by Action Fraud, the national reporting service for fraud and cybercrime, via their website: www.actionfraud.police.uk/news and through the ScamSmart campaign run by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Further details can be found at:

https://www.fca.org.uk/scamsmart.

We have also been working closely alongside the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) who launched their Suspicious Email Reporting Service last year. This system has proved an instant success with the public, with over 6.1 million reports received and the removal of over 45,000 scams and 90,000 websites taken down since its inception in April 2020.

We are encouraging the public to forward suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk and to forward suspicious text messages to 7726 (which is free of charge). Any reports of fraud should be made to Action Fraud who can be contacted by phone on 0300 123 2040 or through their website:

https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/reporting-fraud-and-cyber-crime.