Oral Answers to Questions

Mark Pawsey Excerpts

Tuesday 13th December 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation (Joseph Johnson)]

We look forward to reading that research. It clearly contains some interesting findings, of which we will take full note.

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

T3. A construction business my constituency has alerted me to corporate mandate fraud, by which a fraudster pretends to be a company and asks its customers to change the bank account details for future payments. What steps can the Minister take to alert all businesses to such criminal behaviour? What discussions has she had with the Home Secretary about bringing the perpetrators to justice?

[Margot James]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for drawing attention to this type of fraud, which affects businesses in all sectors. It is essential that business owners and staff know what to do when they are notified of changes to bank account details. The best pointer in the first instance is the advice available on the Action Fraud website.