Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Jun 03, 2025

UK ministers urged to make tech giants responsible for scams

UK ministers urged to make tech giants responsible for scams

Coalition of organisations including City of London police and Which? demand social media sites vet adverts
A coalition of organisations including City of London police and the consumer body Which? is demanding the government make tech giants such as Google and Facebook legally responsible for fake and fraudulent adverts.

In a joint letter to the home secretary, Priti Patel, the 17 organisations have urged ministers to force search engines and social media sites to vet all adverts they publish to protect the public from an “avalanche” of scams involving investments and other financial offers.

They want the government to include online scams in its proposed online safety bill, which is expected to be presented to parliament in the Queen’s speech on 11 May.

Scams and fraud have escalated over the past year as locked-down consumers spent more time online. Some end up losing money after using search engines to research investments at a time of record-low interest rates, while others have been tricked by adverts on social media sites. Many scams involve cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin or schemes that claim to offer early access to pension pots.

Scammers employ an array of tricks such as using fake celebrity endorsements from the likes of the TV adventurer Bear Grylls and MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis to lure in victims, as well as setting up fake websites and impersonating legitimate ones.

Official figures from Action Fraud show that £1.7bn was lost to scams in the last year, while the banking body UK Finance said there had been a 32% increase in investment scam cases in 2020.

David Postings, the chief executive of UK Finance, said: “It’s not right that online giants are effectively profiting twice – once from criminals marketing scams on their platforms, and again from organisations having to advertise fraud warnings to consumers.”

The regulator Financial Conduct Authority is not one of the signatories to the letter, but it has made similar calls – and has repeatedly singled out Google for criticism over this issue.

In a speech in June last year, the FCA’s chair, Charles Randell, said a framework was needed to stop tech giants from promoting unsuitable investments and scams to ordinary retail consumers, adding: “It is frankly absurd that the FCA is paying hundreds of thousands of pounds to Google to warn consumers against investment advertisements from which Google is already receiving millions in revenue.”

Last September the FCA again name-checked Google and said it believed there was a strong case to include fraud within the online safety legislation, “given the FCA’s limited power to take down advertising by those seeking to scam people via the internet”.

Coincidentally, Google on Friday announced new measures in this area, saying it would be developing and rolling out further restrictions to financial services advertising in the UK over the coming months. Details have not been revealed, but it could require that an advertiser is registered by the FCA.

Google also pledged $5m (£3.6m) in advertising credits to support public awareness campaigns by UK industry organisations and government bodies that are targeting financial scams, and the company has joined Stop Scams UK, a group set up last year by 12 telecoms and banking firms.

The letter from the 17 organisations – which also include MoneySavingExpert.com and the charity Age UK – said online platforms “play a pivotal role in enabling criminals to reach and defraud internet users through the hosting, promotion and targeting of fake and fraudulent content on their sites, including adverts that they make significant profits from”.

The letter states that the tech giants must be given a legal responsibility to prevent, identify and remove fake and fraudulent content on their sites.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
British Fishing Boat Owner Fined €30,000 by French Authorities
Dutch government falls as far-right leader Wilders quits coalition
Harvard Urges US to Unfreeze Funds for Public Health Research
Businessman Mauled by Lion at Luxury Namibian Lodge
Researchers Consider New Destinations Beyond the U.S.
53-Year-Old Doctor Claims Biological Age of 23
Trump Struggles to Secure Trade Deals With China and Europe
Russia to Return 6,000 Corpses Under Ukraine Prisoner Swap Deal
Microsoft Lays Off Hundreds More Amid Restructuring
Harvey Weinstein’s Publicist Embraces Notoriety
Macron and Meloni Seek Unity Despite Tensions
Trump Administration Accused of Obstructing Deportation Cases
Newark Mayor Sues Over Arrest at Immigration Facility
Center-Left Candidate Projected to Win South Korean Presidency
Trump’s Tariffs Predicted to Stall Global Economic Growth
South Korea’s President-Elect Expected to Take Softer Line on Trump and North Korea
Trump’s China Strategy Remains a Geopolitical Puzzle
Ukraine Executes Long-Range Drone Strikes on Russian Airbases
Conservative Karol Nawrocki wins Poland’s presidential election
Study Identifies Potential Radicalization Risk Among Over One Million Muslims in Germany
Good news: Annalena Baerbock Elected President of the UN General Assembly
Apple Appeals EU Law Over User Data Sharing Requirements
South Africa: "First Black Bank" Collapses after Being Looted by Owners
Poland will now withdraw from the EU migration pact after pro-Trump nationalist wins Election
"That's Disgusting, Don’t Say It Again": The Trump Joke That Made the President Boil
Trump Cancels NASA Nominee Over Democratic Donations
Paris Saint-Germain's Greatest Triumph Is Football’s Lowest Point
OnlyFans for Sale: From Lockdown Lifeline to Eight-Billion-Dollar Empire
Mayor’s Security Officer Implicated | Shocking New Details Emerge in NYC Kidnapping Case
Hegseth Warns of Potential Chinese Military Action Against Taiwan
OPEC+ Agrees to Increase Oil Output for Third Consecutive Month
Jamie Dimon Warns U.S. Bond Market Faces Pressure from Rising Debt
Turkey Detains Istanbul Officials Amid Anti-Corruption Crackdown
Taylor Swift Gains Ownership of Her First Six Albums
Bangkok Ranked World's Top City for Remote Work in 2025
Satirical Sketch Sparks Political Spouse Feud in South Korea
Indonesia Quarry Collapse Leaves Multiple Dead and Missing
South Korean Election Video Pulled Amid Misogyny Outcry
Asian Economies Shift Away from US Dollar Amid Trade Tensions
Netflix Investigates Allegations of On-Set Mistreatment in K-Drama Production
US Defence Chief Reaffirms Strong Ties with Singapore Amid Regional Tensions
Vietnam Faces Strategic Dilemma Over China's Mekong River Projects
Malaysia's First AI Preacher Sparks Debate on Islamic Principles
White House Press Secretary Criticizes Harvard Funding, Advocates for Vocational Training
France to Implement Nationwide Smoking Ban in Outdoor Spaces Frequented by Children
Meta and Anduril Collaborate on AI-Driven Military Augmented Reality Systems
Russia's Fossil Fuel Revenues Approach €900 Billion Since Ukraine Invasion
U.S. Justice Department Reduces American Bar Association's Role in Judicial Nominations
U.S. Department of Energy Unveils 'Doudna' Supercomputer to Advance AI Research
U.S. SEC Dismisses Lawsuit Against Binance Amid Regulatory Shift
×