To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Office, what steps she is taking to raise the public's awareness of instances of criminals exploiting the covid-19 outbreak to commit fraud.
Answered on
19 May 2020
The Government and law enforcement colleagues are working tirelessly to identify and disrupt those seeking to commit these crimes. The National Crime Agency (NCA), alongside the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the City of London Police (CoLP) have thwarted over 2,000 scams in April alone.
In addition we have worked closely with the National Crime Agency, the Financial Conduct Authority, UK Finance and others to amplify messages to the public setting out how they can protect themselves from fraud.
We have recently launched a gov.uk page on coronavirus related fraud and cybercrime, including easy-to-follow steps for people to follow to better protect themselves as well as signposting all relevant advice and tips.
This page can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-fraud-and-cyber-crime