Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has taken recent steps to help tackle scammers operating on pedestrian thoroughfares in London.

The Government recognises that fraudsters will use any means they can to trick people into handing over their hard-earned money. We recognise these crimes can have significant and devastating impacts on people’s lives, particularly the most vulnerable in society.

We know the best way to tackle these scams is to ensure the public have all the advice and support they need to detect these frauds and avoid them. This is why we have published guidance on GOV.UK containing easy-to-follow steps and useful resources.

As well as this, Action Fraud, the national reporting service for all victims of fraud and cybercrime, also regularly provide fraud alerts via their website including on common and newly seen fraud schemes: www.actionfraud.police.uk/news

Tackling fraud requires a unified and co-ordinated response from government, law enforcement and the private sector to better protect the public and businesses from fraud, reduce the impact of fraud on victims, and increase the disruption and prosecution of fraudsters which is why, we will publish a new strategy to address the threat of fraud this year.