Peers demand phone firms face charges over text scams

TELEPHONE firms that allow customers to be deluged with texts and calls from scammers should be prosecuted, a House of Lords committee has said.

The UK has become a “lucrative market” for international criminals with no fear of justice, a damning report published yesterday found.

It took aim at “chronically underfunded” law enforcement that had failed to investigate and prosecute scammers, and the tech giants that had escaped scrutiny for their part in the fraud epidemic “for too long”.

Baroness Morgan of Cotes, chairman of the Fraud Act 2006 and the digital fraud committee, said the Government could not “keep on sticking its head in the sand” in the hope that the problem would go away.

She added: “If people were being routinely mugged in broad daylight, every organisation involved in allowing it to happen would have no choice but to deal with it swiftly, and the perpetrators would be brought to justice.” Someone aged 16 or above was more likely to become a victim of fraud than any other type of crime, including burglary or violence, according to official statistics published in October.

More than three quarters of scams take place on social media, auction sites or dating apps, according to data col- lected by Barclays bank. Lady Morgan warned fraudsters “walked away without fear of repercussions” because most fraud occurred online.

The committee has publicly called for a new corporate criminal offence which would prosecute and heavily fine companies which failed to prevent fraud on their watch.

The report insisted it was time for “less carrot and more stick” to ensure telecoms giants and internet providers took responsibility for victims targeted by criminals on their platforms.

The prevalence of malicious text messages exploded during the pandemic, with scammers posing as the NHS, HM Revenue and Customs and delivery companies to steal millions from households amid the uncertainty of lockdown.

Compensation for victims is currently predominantly funded by banks, with many high-street names signed up to a voluntary code to reimburse those who lose their life savings and the money cannot be recovered.

But refund rates are low and less than half of the £583million lost to scammers via so-called “authorised push payment fraud” – where a victim is tricked into sending money directly to criminals – last year was refunded to customers, according to figures from UK Finance.

A government spokesman said: “We remain absolutely committed to preventing callous predators from stealing cash from hard-working families.”