Campaign Against Fraud

Fraud is one of the most prevalent crimes in this country, with millions of cases every year. And the impact goes beyond financial: it can do serious emotional and psychological harm to victims too.

Right now, financial services are the main sector tackling fraud and the only sector reimbursing victims – despite the fact scams overwhelmingly start online and via telecommunications. To tip the balance in the fight against fraud, UK Finance, which represents over 300 financial services companies, launched a media campaign to get tech and telco companies to do their part too. So far, the campaign has had a reach in the hundreds of millions, secured coverage on BBC Breakfast, Money Box, Sky News, ITV and many more, and helped spark the Daily Mail’s Stop the Social Media Scammers Campaign – which has even been backed by the Prime Minister. Crucially, it has changed the media narrative, securing supportive opinion pieces in the media. That in turn has helped bring about political change. The Online Safety Act includes a requirement for tech firms to work to tackle scam adverts on their platforms, and the government’s fraud strategy includes a line on the need for online technology giants to do more. Now the largest tech companies have signed a new Online Fraud Charter.