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Written question asked by Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party) on Wednesday, 22 November 2023, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 27 November 2023 (named day). It was answered by Tom Tugendhat (Conservative) on Tuesday, 28 November 2023 on behalf of the Home Office.

Telecommunications: Fraud

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the fraud sector charter on telecommunications.

Answer

The Government and industry signed the Telecommunications Fraud Sector Charter, a voluntary agreement to improve counter-fraud efforts, in October 2021.

Under the Charter, the sector has introduced firewalls that detect and stop scam texts from reaching customers. The firewalls have proved successful, and have stopped 700 million scam text messages since January 2022. The firewalls also monitor and stop “FluBot malware” used by criminals to infect and take over a victim’s phone to steal credit or debit card details.

We are keen to build on the success of the first Charter and start work on a renewed version in the coming months to push criminals out of using telecommunications to contact victims.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
3136
Session
2023-24
Subjects
Fraud Telecommunications
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk