Protecting consumers by preventing fraud: data-sharing measures

Executive Summary

This document is an analysis of the Home Affairs Select Committee’s unfinished 2023-24 inquiry into fraud and its impact on victims. According to the Chair of the committee, “the irregularity in data sharing between industries is a key barrier to building a whole system, data-driven response to tackling fraud in the UK.” This is disappointing because our evidence shows that a significant majority of victims (75%) are comfortable with their data being shared across organisations to help prevent future scams; and six in ten (61%) consumers think it is important that businesses and governments share data with each other as a way to tackle fraud. 

The publication of the inquiry’s findings would have provided scrutiny of the government’s previous fraud strategy, and would have provided a mechanism to hold government and other key actors accountable for further delivery in this space in the next (forthcoming) fraud strategy. But Parliament was dissolved in mid-2024 before the inquiry could report its findings. This submission is an attempt to address that gap in relation to the evidence about data sharing, ahead of the next government fraud strategy.

Only two major tech companies, two major telecoms companies, and three of the UK’s top five banks gave evidence, suggesting a lack of engagement with parts of industry with the process. This is even more striking in the context of industry-led voluntary charters to prevent fraud, and which include commitments around data-sharing.

The evidence that was submitted shows a landscape of fragmented, relatively small scale data sharing initiatives. Stakeholders cited perceived legal barriers, technical barriers, commercial barriers and data quality issues, as reasons why they were not sharing more data. Although stakeholders made proposals for solutions to perceived legal and technical barriers, no solutions were proposed for perceived commercial barriers or data quality issues.

Which? believes that government mandated data sharing is necessary to ensure that all relevant stakeholders are participating in data sharing schemes to reduce fraud and its impact on victims.  We also reiterate our call  that the government lead by example by sharing its own data.