Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to strengthen cooperation with other nations to help tackle online fraud.

The Government recognises the serious threat posed by fraudsters targeting UK citizens from abroad. In October 2024, the UK played a pivotal role in helping pass the first ever UN Resolution on Fraud at the 12th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC).

The resolution outlines a set of key recommendations that all signatories to the UNTOC (186 Member States) should implement to mitigate the threat of fraud to their citizens. These recommendations include codifying fraud as a serious crime, pursuing fraudsters, protecting victims, and collaborating closely with the private sector to design out fraud. By establishing these guidelines, the resolution sets a baseline of global standards for all member states to follow. This is a significant advancement in the global fight against fraud and underscores our shared commitment with international partners in combating this pernicious crime.

As part of the Government’s on-going work to tackle fraud internationally, we continue to work closely with our strategic partners including Five Eyes countries, Singapore, EU nations and INTERPOL, to target fraud and scams at source. Through these forums we are working with source countries (where transnational organised fraud and cybercrime groups operate) to build capacity in their law enforcement agencies, in order to tackle and disrupt overseas fraud before it reaches the UK.