Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to protect UK citizens from telephone scams from Nigeria.

The Government takes all types of fraud, including those operating through telephones, extremely seriously. We are working closely with the City of London Police (CoLP), the national lead force for fraud, to support local forces and partners deliver effective protective advice to the public on fraud, including phone scams. CoLP operates Action Fraud, the national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime, and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, and works to ensure that the public has the information they need to protect themselves from telephone fraud. When a serious threat or a new type of fraud is identified, Action Fraud places an alert on its website with advice for individuals to protect themselves from becoming victims. Members of the public can sign up to receive these alerts by email.

We are also working closely with Financial Fraud Action UK and the British Bankers’ Association who have issued advice to consumers on how to protect themselves from phone scammers.

Ofcom, the communications regulator in the UK, has worked closely with the Metropolitan Police Service, Action Fraud and landline providers to prevent criminals exploiting phone lines to trick and defraud members of the public. All landline providers have now reduced the time a call remains open after one party hangs up down to two seconds. This makes it much more difficult for criminals to exploit phone lines in this way.

The Government also work closely with the Nigerian authorities to tackle serious and organised crime threats.