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A week after a UK lawmaker warned that social media companies are in a "last chance saloon", some of the biggest names in technology, banking and telecommunications have joined forces to crack down on fraud.
In the statement of intent issued under the banner of Stop Scams UK, Amazon, Barclays, BT, Google, HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide, NatWest, Match Group, Meta, Monzo, Santander and Three have pledged to strengthen their intelligence-sharing efforts to combat fraudsters.
“We firmly believe that collaboration is our best strategy to win the fight against fraud, which is still the most common crime that this country faces,” said Vim Maru, CEO of Barclays UK.
Rich Bromley, director of fraud and disputes risk at Monzo, agreed. “Industry cross-collaboration and data sharing is key to supercharging this even further as we continue our work to outpace criminals’ tactics and keep our customers’ money safe.”
Payments ecosystem stakeholders, especially the banking and payments industry, have for some time argued that fraudsters are increasingly exploiting multiple digital channels.
This involves jumping between platforms to deceive and defraud victims and using authorised push payment (APP) scams as a mechanism to exploit consumers.
Individual companies often struggle to see the full picture, making it difficult to block scams before damage is done, with APP fraud challenging to pick up on networks.
By pooling intelligence and resources, Stop Scams UK members aim to detect, block and take down bad actors more effectively.
The group has already launched a series of data-sharing pilots to identify fraudulent activity faster and prevent scams before they reach consumers.
The statement signed by industry leaders emphasises that 2025 presents a unique opportunity for collaboration, calling on government and law enforcement to work alongside the private sector to make the UK the most inhospitable place in the world for fraudsters.
Stop Scams UK members say “now marks the moment to accelerate, build and scale” counter-fraud efforts, so that stronger consumer protections are in place and to bolster public confidence in digital services.
Social media and telecoms involvement
The joint statement comes at a key time, as politicians on both sides of the aisle, as well as regulators, have stated that it would make sense for online platforms and telecoms companies to share the burden of fraud reimbursement rules.
For example, at a recent hearing with the Treasury Select Committee, the head of the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), David Geale, endorsed the idea of social media platforms having liability “in principle”.
As Vixio reported, Labour parliamentarian Luke Charters echoed this sentiment at Pay360, stating that social media firms “need to have skin in the game” and that they are in a “last chance saloon” regarding fraudulent activity.
“Its time to cough up,” he said, adding that firms such as Meta should “make that voluntary contribution now”.
This was something that his Conservative colleague and shadow Cabinet member Mark Garnier also gave his support to in his own Pay360 address.
Online platforms such as Meta and Amazon have signed the joint statement, as well as telecoms players like Three and BT and dating company Match Group.
This appears to be a sign that these fraud origination sources are beginning to take the matter more seriously, perhaps in response to the political pressure being applied in the UK and elsewhere.
“At Meta, we are committed to creating a safe and secure online environment for all our community. That’s why we’re proud to be a member of Stop Scams UK, which played a key role in helping to establish our first-of-its-kind information sharing partnership, the FIRE (Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange) programme, with banks to help protect people against fraud,” said Nathaniel Gleicher, global head of counter fraud at Meta.
Gleicher continued that “scams are a society-wide problem which requires industry, government and others to work together, and we will continue to expand and evolve our collaboration to stop fraudsters in their tracks”.
It is clear that firms such as Meta, which are not known for being open to regulation, are keen to try to ward off formal rules and increased compliance costs by acting voluntarily.
However, if the voluntary approach fails to effect a reduction in fraud, it feels almost inevitable that regulators will need to step in.
