Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions he has had with social media companies on the role of their platforms in perpetrators committing online fraud.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government is committed to tackling online fraud, as demonstrated through the strong duties in the Online Safety Act to protect users from this content.
In addition, the Joint Fraud Taskforce is a partnership between government, the private sector and law enforcement to tackle fraud collectively. Minutes of the taskforce’s meetings are published on gov.uk
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to help protect consumers from (a) deepfake technology, (b) AI-generated phishing scams and (c) other fraud enabled by artificial intelligence.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Government takes the threats posed by generative AI extremely seriously. That is why we are taking forward our manifesto commitment to ban the creation of non-consensual sexual deepfakes in the Data (Use and Access) Bill.
AI-generated content is captured by the Online Safety Act where it constitutes illegal content or content harmful to children on an in-scope service. Fraud is designated a priority offence under the Act, and in-scope services will need to take proactive measures to tackle illegal fraud content.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology also works jointly with the Home Office and HM Treasury through the Joint Fraud Taskforce to address fraud across different sectors.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle (a) financial scams and (b) fraud nationally.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government is committed to working with law enforcement, civil society and industry to better protect the public and businesses from this appalling crime.
We have committed to completing the outstanding commitments of the Fraud Strategy set out by the previous government and are determined to do more. We will be working closely with partners to develop our new, expanded strategy over the coming months. Details of our approach will be set out in due course.
In the meantime, the Government brought together key partners across law enforcement, industry and victim groups at the Joint Fraud Taskforce last month, launching an Insurance Fraud Charter with key insurance firms to reduce insurance fraud.
In parallel, we have taken steps to ensure a new corporate criminal liability offence of Failure to Prevent Fraud comes into effect next year and played a central role in the adoption of the first ever UN resolution on fraud, which will strengthen the international response.
Asked by: Chloe Smith (Conservative - Norwich North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department (a) has taken on tackling risks from the integration of frontier AI into society since November 2023 and (b) is taking to help ensure the security of elections.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat
The Home Office is working at pace to mitigate the risks and take advantage of the potential opportunities from Frontier AI, working closely with cross-cutting AI safety and risk teams in Whitehall. The department worked with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to ensure the PM’s AI Safety Summit was a success, including running side events on fraud and preventing child sexual exploitation. We continue to actively engage technology companies and ensure AI related concerns are worked through in policy areas.
The Defending Democracy Taskforce, led by the Security Minister, is also engaging across government and with Parliament, the UK’s intelligence community, the devolved governments, local authorities, the private sector, and civil society on the full range of threats facing our democratic institutions. This includes close working with DSIT on the threats from AI enabled election interference and the development of mitigations. The Joint Election Security & Preparedness Unit (Joint Cabinet Office and Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) is leading on mitigating election security risks.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times and on what dates the Joint Fraud Taskforce has met since October 2021.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat
The Joint Fraud Taskforce is a partnership between the private sector, Government and law enforcement. The Joint Fraud Taskforce met on 11 July 2023, 21 November 2022, 22 March 2022 and 21 October 2021.
The Joint Fraud Taskforce meeting minutes are available on Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/joint-fraud-taskforce#joint-fraud-taskforce-meeting-minutes
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has held with the Police Service of Northern Ireland on tackling telephone fraud.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat
This Government is committed to doing everything we can to stop criminals abusing telecommunications networks. As a part of the Fraud Strategy, we announced a consultation on extending the ban on cold calls to include all financial products. We have also consulted on stopping criminals from getting hold of SIM farms. We are currently considering what action needs to be taken to prevent criminals from abusing mass texting services.
These actions are in addition to the Telecommunications Fraud Charter, which is a voluntary agreement with the telecommunication sector that has resulted in over 600 million scam texts and tens of millions of scam calls being blocked. It is available here: Fraud sector charter: telecommunications - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
We continue to regularly engage with officials from the devolved governments, including Northern Ireland, on tackling fraud. This includes a discussion on fraud at the National Policing Board on 8 March 2023, chaired by the Home Secretary and attended by the Chief Constable of PSNI. Agenda and minutes are available online: National Policing Board - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle authorised push payment fraud, including that which targets vulnerable people.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat
Authorised Push Payment scams are often highly sophisticated and emotionally manipulative and it is unacceptable that victims may lose their money as a result. The Government is working with industry, including the banking and tech sectors to ensure that victims are protected from these crimes in the first place and are not left out of pocket because of them
The government is legislating through the Financial Services and Markets Bill to give the Payment Systems Regulator the powers it needs to make all Payment Service Providers reimburse victims of authorised fraud on the Faster Payments System in circumstances where the victim hasn’t been grossly negligent. We expect that this will materially improve outcomes for victims and provide enhanced incentives for firms to prevent these scams in the first place. The Payment Systems Regulator has consulted on the mechanism for reimbursement and industry liability and will publish its response shortly.
We are focused on stopping unscrupulous fraudsters in their tracks and supporting victims so they can recover and protect themselves. Raising awareness and safeguarding victims will form a key part of the Government’s forthcoming fraud strategy.
We are already taking concrete steps to protect the most vulnerable victims:
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Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to tackle financial scams.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
The Government takes the issue of fraud very seriously and is dedicated to protecting the public from this devastating crime. 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.
The Government is taking action through legislation through the Financial Services and Markets Bill which will enable and require the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to mandate reimbursement for victims of Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams, where a victim is tricked into sending money to a fraudster. This measure will enable consumers across the country to receive more consistent and comprehensive protection against these increasingly sophisticated scams, ensuring victims are not left paying for fraud through no fault of their own.
The Government is also taking action to address fraudulent activity being hosted online through the Online Safety Bill. The Bill includes a new standalone duty requiring large internet firms to tackle fraudulent advertising, including of financial services.
In addition to this, the total Spending Review 2021 settlement and the Economic Crime Levy represent an overall package of circa £400 million to tackle economic crime over the next three years, including fraud.
The Government is working closely with industry to tackle fraud. In 2021, the Joint Fraud Taskforce (JFT) published three voluntary sector charters. The charters aim to combat fraud in the accountancy, retail banking and telecommunications sectors and include commitments to develop innovative measures to reduce fraud facilitated through these industries, e.g., money muling and SMS enabled fraud.
Finally, the Government intends to publish a new strategy to address the threat of fraud shortly. Through this strategy, the Government will work with industry to remove the vulnerabilities that fraudsters exploit, with intelligence agencies to shut down fraudulent infrastructure, with law enforcement to identify and bring the most harmful offenders to justice, and with all partners to ensure that the public have the advice and support they need.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to protect people from online scams.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat
Online fraud is a pernicious crime that can cause devastating financial and emotional harm to victims. The Government has been working with partners in the public and private sectors to keep the public safe and bring these fraudsters to justice.
The National Cyber Security Centre are leading the way combatting online scams through their Suspicious Email Reporting Service which allows members of the public to forward any suspicious emails and potential phishing scams more effectively and easily to law enforcement. Since its inception in April 2020, it has already led to over 15 million reports and the removal of over 105,000 scams across 192,000 URLs (as of October 2022).
We have also introduced the Online Safety Bill, an ambitious and forward-looking piece of legislation that will tackle online harms including fraud and fraudulent advertising. DCMS is leading further work on an Online Advertising Programme. This will consider further regulation of online advertising, including for fraud. In March 2022, DCMS published their consultation which has now closed, and the Government will publish its response in due course.
We have been working with industry on a voluntary basis. On 21st October 2021, the newly relaunched Joint Fraud Taskforce published three voluntary charters to combat fraud in the accountancy, retail banking and telecommunications sectors. We have seen progress with one UK mobile operator reporting a 97% decline in scam texts over a nine-month period.
We continue to encourage the public to report fraud to Action fraud and to forward any suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk and suspicious texts to 7726, free of charge.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that people with autism and learning disabilities are protected from financial fraud.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat
We know that fraudsters will use any means they can, including through highly deceptive and sophisticated techniques, to trick people into handing over their hard-earned money. We recognise that for the most vulnerable this can be particularly stressful and damaging however, we are focused on stopping unscrupulous fraudsters in their tracks and supporting victims so they can recover and protect themselves going forward.
Raising awareness and safeguarding victims will form a key part of the Government’s forthcoming fraud strategy. We are already taking concrete steps to protect the most vulnerable victims:
We have established the Victims of Fraud Working Group which works to bring together key stakeholders from law enforcement, victim support services and the private sector to create a forum to discuss the victim support landscape, share best practice, close vulnerabilities in the system and ensure that victims of fraud and cyber crime are consistently receiving the right level of support.