UK Government Commits to Cutting Fraud in new Economic Crime Plan
techUK welcomes the government’s Economic Crime Plan 2 published on Thursday, which sets out their aim to strengthen the UK’s global response to economic crime and highlights the vital role of the tech sector in being part of the solution.
The plan is set to build on the foundations of The Economic Crime Plan 1 (ECP1), “with new actions to improve the system-wide response to economic crime through enhanced cooperation between government, law enforcement, supervisory agencies and the private sector.”
techUK welcome the outcomes-focused approach of This new Economic Crime Plan 2 (EPC2), driving agreed public-private priorities and seeking to maximise a collective, whole-system impact against threats.
techUK are glad to see that the Plan encompasses cutting fraud as one of the three priorities and commits over £100 million of new money to this pillar over the next three years. This comes alongside two other priorities of cutting kleptocracy and reducing money laundering.
We keenly anticipate the forthcoming Fraud Strategy, which will set out the key actions to be taken under the ‘Cutting Fraud’ pillar, to address this issue in greater detail.
The anticipated Fraud Strategy will set out to how the Government plans to work with its agencies and partners to:
• Pursue fraudsters, disrupting their activities and bringing them to justice more often and quicker
• Block frauds at source by dramatically reducing the number of fraud and scam communications that get through to the public
• Empower people to recognise, avoid and report frauds and equip them to deal easily and appropriately with frauds that do get through.
The tech sector is already working proactively to prevent online fraud and is committed to continuing cross sector collaborations to tackle this evolving threat. techUK already chairs the Online Fraud Steering Group and our members work bilaterally to tackle a range of fraud typologies.
techUK’s Deputy CEO Antony Walker said
“techUK welcomed the opportunity to be a member of the Economic Crime Strategic Board ahead of the publication of this new Economic Crime Plan. We have worked with the Government and other industries to highlight the continued need for a joint cross sector approach to prevent, detect and disrupt online fraud. Understanding how sectors can better collaborate and facilitate actionable intelligence sharing will help to form a whole system response to tackle online fraud across the economy.”
Initial successes in this space have included members of the techUK co-chaired Online Fraud Steering Group implementing their commitments to the FCA authorisation process for financial advertisements, which has seen a reduction in scam ads across several platforms. Furthermore, members are continuing to engage closely with the FCA to ensure tech remains reactive to evolving fraud threats.
Last month, techUK also held a lunchtime briefing event on ‘Cyber Enabled Fraud’ with the Director of NECC Adrian Searle, to discuss the range of cyber security solutions some of our members currently offer to tackle online fraud, and the ways we can continue sharing knowledge across sectors.
Tackling fraud is a key focus for techUK in 2023, and we are continuing to work closely with members and stakeholders to develop conversations and solutions.
techUK is working in partnership with UK Finance and the National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) to open cross-sector dialogues and form tangible solutions which reduce the threat of financial fraud. You can find out more about this work here.
If you’d like to find out more about our other work on fraud and economic crime and how to get involved, please contact: [email protected]
Read the Economic Crime Plan 2 here
Learn more about techUK’s work on online fraud here.
Javahir Askari
Javahir Askari
Javahir joined techUK in June 2022, as Policy Manager for Digital Regulation.
Prior to joining techUK, she worked at the New Statesman, delivering cross sector policy research and events for their policy supplement. Javahir previously worked as part of the educational programme at the European Commission based in London, engaging with the UK's youth on the Brexit process.
Javahir holds a BA Politics and International Relations (Hons) from the University of Nottingham, an MA Human Rights from University College London, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Law from BPP University.
