Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to raise awareness of online scams.

The Government recognises the serious risks presented by online scams and fraud and is working collaboratively with law enforcement and the private sector to reaffirm messages to the public setting out how they can protect themselves from fraud and stay safe online.

We know one of the best ways to deal with these scams is for the public to be well-informed on how to protect themselves. This is why we published guidance for the public to spot potential frauds and the steps they can take to avoid them. This advice can be accessed at:

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, which can help individuals raise their awareness of these sorts of scams, and advise on how to combat them:

www.actionfraud.police.uk/news.

We continue to encourage anybody who suspects an email, text or other form of communication to be suspicious to report it to report@phishing.gov.uk or forward a text to 7726, free of charge.