A global fraud summit and a ban on “sim farms” sending out mass messages to cheat people will help to slash the number of Britons being scammed, a Home Office minister insisted on Wednesday.
He spoke as critics accused the Government of failing to do enough to protect the public.
Security minister Tom Tugendhat said the summit would enlist the help of overseas countries to tackle fraudsters targeting Britons from abroad and help to bolster other efforts set out in a new fraud strategy published in Parliament on Wednesday.
It includes a ban on cold calling and the introduction of a new national fraud squad of 400 investigators, as well as plans to improve the information given to the public about how to spot and report scams.
Mr Tugendhat said the aim was to cut fraud — which currently accounts for around four in 10 of all crimes — by 10 per cent as he admitted it was a “very serious threat” to the public and the country.
“We’re stopping scam numbers, we are stopping what’s called sim farms from sending out the mass messages that people can be lured into fraud from, and we are making sure we are empowering individuals to know how to respond,” he said.
Warning that fraudsters “around the world” were using phone and online technology to target Britons, he said international cooperation was needed. But Labour said the plan was “too little, too late”.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper added: “Few victims ever get a police response and the Home Office has totally failed to get a grip.”
