The government must act now to enforce anti-fraud standards on social media platforms, according to a trade body representing the payments sector.
The Payments Association (TPA) has for some time now be calling for the burden for both tackling fraud and reimbursing its victims, currently placed heavily on the payments sector to be shared with social media platforms which act as the point of origin for most scams.
TPA on Tuesday doubled down on its calls for immediate government action with the release of a new white paper called The New Origin of APP Fraud.
The paper, which is based in part on interviews with major financial institutions including Barclays, Revolut, Nationwide and Santander, highlights the role of social media companies, in particular Facebook and Instagram owner Meta, in facilitating Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud.
TPA has called on the government and regulators to prioritise the enforcement of standards for social media giants to meaningfully address financial crime which has risen to alarming rates.
According to National Crime Agency, fraud is the most commonly experienced crime in the UK, accounting for 40% of crime in England and Wales.
In its paper, TPA highlights that in the first half of last year, over £250m was lost to APP fraud in the UK, with around two-thirds of cases originating on online platforms.
“For too long, the polluter has not been the one paying. While banks are working tirelessly to reimburse victims and detect suspicious transfers, they are essentially trying to catch water at the bottom of a waterfall while the source remains wide open,” said Riccardo Tordera, vice president of policy and government relations at TPA.
“As Meta’s ecosystems have become a primary engine for scam exposure, we are calling on the government to move beyond voluntary pledges and toward mandatory, enforceable standards for digital platforms to protect consumers from APP’s point of origin.”
Read more: Pressure piles on social media as fintechs demand fraud action
