Now online crackdown set to include financial fraudsters

FINANCIAL fraudsters are set to be hit by a new online crackdown, the chair of a powerful committee of MPs has predicted.

The Government is drafting new legislation to force social media and tech giants to do more to clamp down on anyone who uses their websites to promote terrorism, to cyberbully or commit hate crimes.

The detail of the Online Safety Bill is currently being thrashed out, before it begins its journey into law next year.

The current draft does not cover paid-for adverts, which are often the means by which financial fraudsters target their victims.

For example, fraudsters post adverts online or promote posts on social media for bogus financial products to lure their victims.

But Mel Stride MP, chair of the Treasury Select Committee, told The Mail on Sunday that he was ‘optimistic’ that the Government would finally reverse its current position and include financial fraud in the Bill. ‘I feel it in my bones that it is going to happen,’ he said.

The MoS, alongside the City regulators, the police, MPs and consumer groups have been calling for months for the inclusion of financial fraud in the Bill.

Most financial scams originate online, with firms such as Google and Facebook under pressure to do more to wipe them from their websites. In September, Google launched its own crackdown on paid-for financial adverts and now only accepts adverts from regulated financial firms. However, there are currently no laws to oblige it or any other online company to do so.

This week, the committee tasked with scrutinising the draft Online Safety Bill will publish its recommendations. Even if it does not propose the inclusion of paid-for online adverts, the Government could still choose to do so.

Stride added that he is ‘hugely supportive’ of our Nail The Scammers campaign and our work to highlight the scourge of online fraudsters.

The Treasury Select Committee will put forward its recommendations on the broader issue of tackling economic crime in the New Year. Stride says they may propose the appointment of an anti-fraud tsar.

‘There is a huge number of different agencies who deal with fraud,’ Stride said. ‘We are looking closely at whether we need better coordination. But we would not want to introduce another layer of bureaucracy unless really necessary.’