Which? responds to an investigation exposing a global investment scam

Rocio Concha, Which? Director of Policy and Advocacy, said:

"This important investigation lays bare the cruelty and sophistication of international scam gangs and serves as a reminder that people do not fall victim to fraud because they are careless, but because they are ruthlessly targeted by criminals.

“Fraudsters find it far too easy to exploit the many weak links in protections for UK consumers - from online banks and payment firms that facilitate payments without sufficient checks, to tech giants that allow scam adverts to flood platforms used by millions of us every day and telecoms networks which fail to prevent thousands of scam calls from abroad.

"The government and regulators must get a grip on the UK’s fraud epidemic by ensuring search engines and social media firms stop scams from appearing in the first place. The Chancellor has asked big tech firms to report back in March on what they are doing to stop scammers from operating on their sites.

"This investigation clearly shows that piecemeal intervention from tech firms is not enough to stop the flood of online fraud and greater regulation and enforcement is urgently needed. Under the current timetable for the Online Safety Act, firms in scope of the fraudulent advertising duties in the Act will not be held accountable for many of the scam ads on their sites until 2027. This is simply not good enough - the Online Safety Act needs to be implemented in full as possible or the government risks letting millions more fall victim to online fraud."

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