Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to tackle financial scams.

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.