Earlier research from Ofcom – the communications regulator – indicated that 45 million people received potential scam texts or calls in the summer of 2021 alone
Labor pledged to crack down on fraudulent calls from abroad and promised to deliver a “crucial blow against the parasites” profiting from fraud.
Previous research from Ofcom – the communications regulator – suggested that 45 million people received potential scam text messages or calls in the summer of 2021 alone.
In a letter to Home Secretary Suella Braverman, Labor MP Emily Thornberry demanded immediate action against “the epidemic of fraud which has swept our country in recent years”.
Based on the latest trends, the Labor Party says that in the five months since Rishi Sunak and Ms Braverman promised to act on fraud, around 1.5 million offenses will have been committed, or 10,000 per day.
“This is the current reality of the most commonly experienced crime in Britain,” she said.
Ms Thornberry pointed out that for some people, including pensioners, the crime is ‘destroying everything they have worked for all their life’.
“And yet the parasites who steal their wages and savings simply move on to their next set of victims with impunity.”
Focusing on fraudulent calls, Ms Thornberry is now proposing the ‘tightest checks possible’ with two new rules.
This includes ensuring that no phone call made overseas using a UK number should display that number when it appears on a UK mobile or landline.
The party also wants to impose a block on overseas calls using a UK number unless the network provider confirms the user is roaming.
In her letter, Ms Thornberry expresses her “sense of horror” at watching the BBC series “Scam Interceptors” with “the size, sophistication and cruelty of the global scam industry, and its disproportionate targeting of British households”.
She added: “We can make it not only harder for overseas gangs to continue to use UK numbers for their scams, but almost impossible.
“It would be just one of many steps we need to take to tackle Britain’s fraud crisis, but it has the potential to be vitally important, dealing a crucial blow to the pests that leading this industry and providing better protection for millions of people in our country.
“If you agree, the Labor Party is ready to work with you and with Ofcom to make this a reality.”
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘This government is absolutely committed to fighting fraud and we continue to work intensively with partners across government, law enforcement and industry to protect the audience.
“We have committed £400m over the next three years to strengthen the law enforcement response to economic crime, and introduced the Online Safety Bill and the Services Bill and financial markets to block fraud at source and improve victim reimbursement.
“To pilot the system, we will soon publish our anti-fraud strategy. This sets out a coordinated government, law enforcement and private sector response to better protect the public and increase disruption and prosecution of fraudsters.