Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle scams perpetrated (a) by telephone and (b) online.

We are working extremely closely with all partners, including telecommunications networks and tech platforms, as well as regulators, law enforcement, and consumer groups to close the vulnerabilities that criminals exploit to commit fraud and to stop scams from reaching the public in the first place

The Government is currently working with telecommunications networks to develop a second Telecoms Charter, to build on the success of the first and go further in identifying, preventing and disrupting telecoms fraud. Under the first Telecommunications Charter, telecoms operators introduced firewalls that have stopped more than 1 billion scam text messages since January 2022. In a landmark, Europe-first move, we are also banning ‘SIM farms’, which are technical devices used to send out scam texts to thousands of people at once. The ban on ‘SIM farms’ is progressing through Parliament as part of the Crime & Policing Bill.

Regarding online fraud, the Online Safety Act’s illegal harm duties have been in force since March this year, of which fraud is included. The Act therefore requires all in-scope platforms to tackle fraud originating on their platforms, by taking proactive measures to stop fraudulent content appearing, and removing it quickly when they become aware of it. Ofcom, as the independent regulator, have the power to levy significant fines on companies who they deem as non-compliant.

Late this year, this Government will also be publishing an expanded fraud strategy, which will include further details of collaboration telecommunications networks and online platforms to tackle these pernicious crimes.