Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help protect British peoples' (a) assets and (b) other interests that are held abroad in the context of trends in the level of (i) cyber fraud and (ii) digital asset theft.

The Home Office works closely with international partners and law enforcement, including the National Crime Agency, to tackle the threat from cyber crime from abroad as well as at home to protect the UK and its interests. 70% of fraud has an overseas element, and so international collaboration is a critical part of our work to protect British people and their assets from fraud.

The UK is committed to international cooperation on cyber crime. As part of this, we have driven international policy making on ransomware through the UK’s leadership position in the Counter Ransomware Initiative, leading the world’s first international government statement against ransomware payments in 2023 and the world’s first joint policy guidance for ransomware victims with the cyber insurance sector in 2024.

Working with key international partners, we have secured key safeguards in the UN Cybercrime Convention which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 2024. The Convention will also standardise legislative and investigative practises on cyber crimes, ensuring all nations improve their capability to deal with the threats that have been changed in scale or reach by the internet.

As a global leader in the fight against fraud, the UK is driving forward policy and operational activity with key partners and on the multilateral stage. This has included playing a central role in the adoption of the first ever UN resolution on fraud at the 12th Conference of Parties for the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC). We have also recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Nigeria to provide increased protection for victims, faster law enforcement intervention and earlier disruption of cross-border criminal groups.

We will continue to prioritise initiatives to keep the public safe from the evolving transnational threat as part of the new Fraud Strategy and cyber crime initiatives.