Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Joint Fraud Taskforce is taking to help consumers affected by authorised push payment scams.

The threat posed by frauds enabled by social engineering, such as authorised push payments frauds, is one this Government takes very seriously. Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics data showed there were 3.6m fraud offences against individuals in the year to September 2016, as estimated by the Crime Survey for England and Wales. The statistics are presented in terms of fraud type (for example ‘bank and credit card fraud’, ‘advanced fee fraud’, etc.) rather than by the method used to commit the fraud.

Through the Joint Fraud Taskforce we are taking steps to ensure that individuals, including the most vulnerable and susceptible are protected from all types of frauds. The Taskforce is: investing in a nationwide fraud prevention campaign ‘Take 5’, funded by the financial sector and Government, so that individuals know how to act when faced by a fraudster to avoid being scammed; introducing a BSI standard so that victims receive a consistent victim care response, closely linked to their individual needs; and, exploring ways in which more stolen funds could be repatriated back to the victims of fraud, stopping the money from getting into the hands of the criminal.

Finally, the Taskforce is also working with the Payment Service Regulator (PSR) following its response to the Which? Super-complaint asking for greater protections for victims of push payment frauds. The PSR will continue to drive forward the programme of work it has developed to better protect consumers and increase awareness of payment scams.