Preventing fraud on social media: Fraud Advisory Panel statement
15 April 2021
The Fraud Advisory Panel has published a joint statement on preventing fraud on social media.
Social media has featured in at least 61,000 crime reports to Action Fraud in 2020-2021, with losses of more than £120m.
Preventing fraud on social media
Fraud on social media mainly affects individuals, but it can also harm businesses, including public sector organisations. Fraudsters can target staff through social media and ‘groom’ them in order to begin trying to steal customer data or business information.
Criminals might also use social media to track staff absences and time whaling attempts around this to make them more plausible.
In their statement, the Fraud Advisory Panel sets out five recommendations:
- Include fraud and cybercrime (as well as the harms done to businesses) in the forthcoming online safety bill
- Create a voluntary fraud charter for social media providers
- Encourage voluntary adoption of verified IDs
- Review the domestic legal framework with respect to online fraud and cybercrime
- Launch a public awareness campaign
Fraud Advisory Panel Joint Statement: Preventing Fraud on Social Media
Read the PDF
