Government abandons plans to make tech firms refund fraud victims

The Liberal Democrats have criticised the government for dropping plans to force tech companies to pay compensation to victims of online financial scams in today’s Fraud Strategy.

Instead the strategy only proposes reaching a voluntary agreement with the tech sector to tackle scams. The government is also pointing to the Online Safety Bill but this doesn't include anything on refunding fraud victims, only fines for tech companies who break the rules.

Lib Dem Home Affairs Spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said:

“It’s appalling that the Conservatives have abandoned plans to make tech companies refund victims of online scams. 

“The Online Safety Bill that ministers are pointing to doesn’t mention refunding fraud victims once. 

“This is yet another example of this Government paying lip service to victims, while completely failing them in practice."

ENDS

Notes to Editor

The government’s Fraud Strategy can be found here.

Earlier this week, the Financial Times reported that ministers were initially proposing to go further and make the tech and telecoms sector responsible for reimbursing victims of fraudulent content. This was reportedly due to concerns at the Treasury and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology about the impact of these proposals on the tech sector.