Which?-driven coalition calls for countering fraud to be made national priority

The coalition – which includes Which?, Barclays, BT, Mobile UK, Nationwide, NatWest, Starling, Three UK, UK Finance, Virgin Media O2 and Vodafone – is calling on Government ministers to provide the leadership necessary to ensure more businesses can better share intelligence that will assist in detecting fraud and protecting their customers.

The sharing of fraud intelligence is key to staying one step ahead of organised crime groups that can blight the lives of so many consumers. Fraud accounts for around 40% of all crimes in England and Wales, with figures emanating from UK Finance revealing that criminals stole over £1 billion through unauthorised and authorised fraud last year.

However, the group is concerned that individual companies, law enforcement agencies and Government are not working collaboratively enough to share information on how fraudsters can exploit gaps in their systems. This allows scammers to deploy the same tactics consistently across multiple channels.

The coalition firmly believes that, by sharing fraud indicators, businesses will have more information to help them recognise an attack before it happens, in turn meaning customers will be better protected.

Barriers to data sharing

The barriers that deter businesses from sharing data are created by worries around breaching data protection regulations and competition concerns. The Government can tackle these barriers through scaling-up existing efforts, setting standards and clarifying guidance to legally share data.

Without overcoming these barriers, industry faces a painfully slow, costly and high-risk approach to an environment wherein fraudsters flourish thanks to their high-speed tactics.

The coalition is calling on the new Labour Government to: 

*make clear that tackling fraud is a national priority and is essential to its wider crime strategy

*put in place central leadership that’s able to co-ordinate initiatives across Government to deliver a joined-up approach for tackling fraud

*lead the Task Force to share fraud data, which must work across industry sectors and deliver technical solutions to generate a data application that can be used to prevent fraud across UK digital channels

The signatories stand ready to join the Task Force with the specific purpose of sharing the data they’re collecting and consuming data from other sectors to be used in their fraud prevention processes that will benefit all UK consumers.

Devastating consequences

Rocio Concha, director of policy and advocacy at Which?, explained: “Fraud continues to blight the lives of so many consumers right across the country, with devastating consequences both financially and emotionally.”

Concha continued: “For too long, the actors that will be part of the fight to combat this terrible crime have been operating in silos. This new commitment from banks and telecoms providers to work together on sharing key data is a significant step forward in the right direction.”

In conclusion, Concha observed: “We urge the new Labour Government to make fraud a national priority and ensure that businesses can share data and Best Practice with each other in order to bolster their defences and, ultimately, keep their customers safe.”