FACEBOOK, Instagram and WhatsApp have joined a UK initiative to halt fraudsters scamming users out of their cash.
Meta, the apps’ parent company, confirmed Tuesday that it had signed up to Stop Scams UK, an industry-led group of businesses working together in an effort to put the brakes on cybercrime.
The tech firm joins the likes of BT, Google, Microsoft and a number of the banking giants, including Barclays and HSBC, as a member of the organisation.
Stop Scams UK said the addition of Meta was a “watershed moment” in its work to “stop scams at source”.
The group noted that most fraud involves criminals posing as members of the banking, tech and telecoms sectors in order to scam their victims.
Stop Scams UK uses collaboration between its members to try to find solutions to scams and fraud spreading on their platforms or by impersonating their business.
It said scams were currently growing at an alarming rate.
Incidents in which victims were manipulated into making payments to criminals were reportedly up 60 per cent in the first six months of 2021 compared with the previous year.
Ruth Evans, chair of Stop Scams UK, said: “This is a watershed moment for us and will bring new reach and capability in our work to stop scams at source.
“The growth in our tech sector membership has been a gamechanger, enhancing our ability to help our members stop scams at source and limiting the harm to…
