Make ‘terrible crime’ of fraud a national priority, firms urge Government

Some of the UK’s biggest banks and telecoms firms have committed to sharing data to combat fraud while urging the Government to make the “terrible crime” a national priority.

The coalition, led by consumer group Which? and including Barclays, BT, Mobile UK, Nationwide, NatWest, Starling, Three UK, UK Finance, Virgin Media O2 and Vodafone, is calling on ministers to provide the leadership to ensure more businesses can better share intelligence to detect fraud and protect their customers.

It said sharing intelligence is key to getting ahead of organised crime groups that “blight the lives of so many consumers”.

Fraud accounts for around 40% of all crime in England and Wales, and figures from UK Finance revealed that criminals stole more than £1 billion through unauthorised and authorised fraud last year.

The group said it is concerned that individual companies, law enforcement agencies and Government are not working collaboratively enough to share information on how fraudsters can exploit gaps in their systems – which allows scammers to deploy the same tactics consistently across multiple channels.

Which? director of policy and advocacy Rocio Concha said: “Fraud continues to blight the lives of so many consumers across the country, with devastating consequences both financially and emotionally.

“For too long, the actors that will be part of the fight to combat this terrible crime have been operating in silos – so this commitment from banks and telecoms providers to work together to share data is a significant step forward in the right direction.

“We urge the new Government to make fraud a national priority and to ensure that businesses can share data and best practices with each other to bolster their defences and ultimately keep their customers safe.”

Jim Winters, from Nationwide, said: “To truly combat financial crime we need a co-ordinated approach, bringing together tech, financial services through to telecoms, law enforcement and Government.

“Collaboration between sectors is vital in providing better protection for consumers at every stage.”

Barclays UK chief executive Vim Maru said: “Fraud is the biggest crime this country faces – hundreds of millions of pounds are lost to scams every year, hurting countless people and businesses and jeopardising our economy and its future growth.

“Teamwork is the only way to win against these criminals. It’s crucial that the new Government, regulators, banks and tech firms all step up and work together to tackle fraud as a national priority.

“Knowledge is power – the better we can understand these criminals and how they operate, the greater chance we have of protecting UK consumers and businesses from their crimes.”

TSB fraud spokesman Matt Hepburn said: “Only a targeted, cross-sector approach to combating fraud will help protect innocent consumers from scams enabled by phone and social media companies.

“With the majority of fraud cases we refund stemming from social media platforms, it’s vital that tech companies urgently act to protect their millions of users from harmful scam content online.”

Mark Tierney, chief executive of Stop Scams UK, said: “Stop Scams UK has long championed the importance of cross-sector collaboration in the fight against fraud and scams. Our members, from across the banking, tech and telco sectors, have been working together to find new and innovative solutions to stopping scams at source.

“These collaborations have already brought about new, exciting technological advancements that we believe can play a key role in helping the Government crack down on criminals.”

Lord David Hanson, a Home Office minister with responsibility for fraud, said: “As a new Government, we are determined to treat fraud with the seriousness it deserves and protect all those who are targeted by these criminals.

“This will take all of us to come together in a shared national effort to defeat this epidemic, which is why I look forward to working with law enforcement partners, consumer groups and companies involved.

“Ministers will be looking at how we can improve the approach to tackling fraud following our manifesto commitments in July.”