Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to minimise the risk of fraud facilitated through online advertisements in the period before the online advertising regulation consultation launches later in 2021.

The Government is deeply concerned about the growth and scale of online fraud. We know that the best way to tackle these scams is to ensure that the public have all the advice and support they need to detect these frauds and avoid them. That is why we have published guidance on GOV.UK containing easy-to-follow steps and useful resources. This can currently be accessed here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-fraud-and-cyber-crime

As well as this, Action Fraud, the national reporting service for all victims of fraud and cybercrime, also regularly provide fraud alerts via their website including on common and newly seen fraud schemes. This can currently be accessed here: www.actionfraud.police.uk/news

The Online Safety Bill, published on the 12th May, will require companies in scope of regulation to take action to tackle fraud, where it is facilitated through user-generated content (for example by social media posts) or via search results. We expect the regulatory framework to have a particular impact on specific types of fraud, such as romance scams, which are estimated to cost over £60 million a year and cause significant psychological harm to victims.

As you are aware, DCMS will be considering how online advertising is regulated through its Online Advertising Programme. This work will look at ensuring that standards about the placement and content of advertising are effectively applied and enforced online to reduce consumers’ exposure to harmful or misleading advertising. This work will look at the role advertising can play in enabling online fraud and help inform our future efforts to tackle it. We will be consulting on this issue later this year.