Which? response as ONS reports ‘substantial’ rise in fraud and hacking during coronavirus pandemic

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

“It is really troubling that there has been such a devastating spike in fraud and hacking since the start of the pandemic – as scammers moved quickly to exploit the growing number of people shopping online.

“Tech giants, banks, telecoms providers, regulators and the government must go to greater lengths to keep up with the evolving tactics of scammers and prevent people being targeted while going about everyday tasks online.

“If the government is serious about tackling online scams it should urgently give platforms a legal responsibility to identify, remove and prevent fake and fraudulent content on their sites through the Online Safety Bill. This must include the adverts often used by criminals as the hook for online shopping scams.”

Statement