Which? calls for new online scam laws

The Government and regulators must introduce new laws to force internet platforms to prevent scams, dangerous products and fake reviews appearing on their sites, says Which?.

Research by the consumer group shows that 68% of people questioned had little or no trust that firms such as Amazon, eBay, Facebook and Google were taking effective steps to protect them from scams or fake products.

Which? said: “The world’s biggest tech companies have the ability to protect people from consumer harm but they are simply not taking enough responsibility.”

In response, Amazon says it “strongly disagrees with these assertions’, and that it has invested more than $700m and employed more than 10,000 people to protect customers and has built “robust programmes and industry-leading tools” to ensure products are safe and reviews were genuine.

Facebook, eBay and Google were equally in disagreement saying they, too, had invested in many technologies to filter out scams and fake reviews which had eliminated millions of possible breaches.