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Sky News has obtained a letter to the UK prime minister that technology companies must contribute to the cost of an online fraud “pandemic” that is undermining international investor confidence in the UK economy.
UK Banks ramp up pressure on Big Tech
The letter is signed by the chief executives of nine major lenders, including Barclays, NatWest and Nationwide, in which they warned that the UK has become “a global hotspot for fraud and scams”.
The letter continues to scorn the government’s National Fraud Strategy, unveiled last month, as inadequate to tackle the scale of the crisis, which they believe is costing more than £1 billion every year to tackle.
The bank chiefs told the PM that £2,300 was stolen from British consumers every day last year by fraudsters.
The letter also describes some fairly painful measures these banks are considering “to protect our customers” without wider government intervention.
One measure includes slowing down payments, described as “a useful but blunt instrument that will mean some customers and businesses will find their legitimate transactions held up”.
“Online fraud poses a strategic threat to the prosperity of the UK and impacts the credibility of, and confidence in, the economy and financial sector,” the letter says.
Big Tech to take big responsibility
The banks want to see a more balanced view in responsibilities with big tech companies responsible for stopping scams at source, to contribute to refunds for victims of fraud originating on their platforms and for a public register showing the scale of their failure to prevent scams.
The banks’ collective intervention underlines growing frustration at the fact that big technology companies such as Meta Platforms are bearing so little of the financial burden generated by fraud.
The letter highlighted a UK Finance report which concluded that £1.2 billion was lost to fraud of all kinds last year, with the overwhelming majority of scams targeting UK consumers “originate with a small number of tech firms, social media firms and telcos”.
“A fraud strategy that fails to mandate action on all actors involved in the fraud journey and collective responsibility for the harm done to consumers, will never be effective.
We are not confident that voluntary measures to be placed on the technology and telecommunication sectors will deliver the change required to reduce the UK’s attractiveness to fraudsters and prevent harm to customers.”
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