Policy paper

Global Fraud Summit Communiqué: 11 March 2024

Published 11 March 2024

This was published under the 2022 to 2024 Sunak Conservative government

Opening

1. We, ministers and representatives of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States convened in person in Lancaster House, London, for the inaugural Global Fraud Summit. We discussed the increasing threat of fraud against individuals and business and the challenges it poses. We stand firm in our commitment to tackle fraud and crack down on the criminal networks responsible. In this we were supported by INTERPOL, the Financial Action Task Force and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. The European Union was also represented at the meeting.

2. Fraud against individuals and businesses, has grown rapidly to become one of the most prevalent crimes globally and is an organised transnational threat. In some countries, it is the most common crime type that citizens experience. Fraudsters operate at scale, exploiting telecommunications networks, cyberspace and a population that spends an increasing amount of time online.

3. Fraud types can vary across jurisdictions, but the devastating impact of fraud is universal. Fraud causes significant financial losses for individuals and institutions. It damages trust between consumers and legitimate businesses. It also causes deep distress for victims. Finally, failure to tackle fraud risks undermining public trust in law enforcement and government institutions.

4. With fraudsters adopting ever more sophisticated methods, it is the shared responsibility of governments, law enforcement, industry, regulators, and individuals to combat this rising threat.

5. We therefore endorse the following four-part framework for tackling fraud. We also commit to co-ordinating and leading the international response to ensure that the criminals responsible have nowhere to hide.

01: Build international understanding, partnerships and capabilities

6. We recognise that fraud is a truly transnational issue and that more must be done in each country, and across the world, to mitigate the significant harm to victims. In this regard, we commit to building on the G7 Interior Ministers’ Declaration on Enhancing Cooperation in the Fight against Transnational Organized Fraud issued on 10 December 2023 in Mito, Japan.

01.A: Develop our understanding of the fraud threat

7. Developing and maintaining a detailed knowledge of the constantly changing threat is key to effectively tackling fraud. We will strengthen our individual understanding of the types, volumes and origins of fraud taking place in our jurisdictions.

8. As fraudsters evolve their tactics, we must continue to strengthen our collective understanding of the threat to allow us to focus our efforts where they will have the greatest impact. We recognise Europol’s ongoing monitoring and reporting and will engage with UK funded INTERPOL global fraud threat assessments.

01.B: Strengthen multilateral partnerships and grow capabilities

9. Beyond this Global Fraud Summit, we recognise that a range of multilateral bodies including the G7, G20, Five Country Ministerial (FCM), European Union, Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Financial Action Task Force (FATF), INTERPOL and others, will play a key role in driving forward global action to combat fraud. These diverse organisations reflect the range of initiatives required to deliver a global response to fraud, spanning political action, law enforcement, capacity building, industry activity, and regulation.

10. We commit to using our membership of these bodies and other opportunities for global leadership to ensure recognition of fraud as an international priority both within and beyond the jurisdictions represented at this Summit. We will continue to discuss fraud at all appropriate forums including the FCM and G7 to drive a truly global response to the fraud threat.

11. We will maintain momentum on this important matter and support the next Global Fraud Summit.

02: Better empowering the public

12. Victims of fraud often feel significant shame and stigma. We must ensure that protecting the public is a central component of any response. We will improve public awareness of the threat and equip all citizens, especially the most vulnerable, with the relevant tools to recognise, reject and report fraudsters’ tactics.

02.A: Strengthen victim support  

13. We commit to raising public awareness of fraud to prevent victimisation and encourage greater reporting. In particular, we must reduce the repeat victimisation of those who are the most vulnerable. To support this, we will share best practice on victim support practices and will align public messaging through existing multilateral bodies and bilateral engagement.

14. It is vital that consumers can trust the origin of the communications, such as calls and texts, that they receive. We commit to share best practice and align, where appropriate, measures designed to prevent criminals impersonating individuals and legitimate businesses through telecommunications networks and through the internet.

15. We recognise the psychological and emotional harms of fraud and will work with civil society organisations and the non-governmental sector both domestically and internationally to provide vital support to victims.

02.B: Support victims to reclaim their money

16. Given the speed with which proceeds of crime are often transferred and laundered across jurisdictions, timely international cooperation is critical.  We must retrieve the proceeds of fraud from criminals and wherever possible return them to victims.

17. We welcome the recent significant enhancement of the FATF standards on asset recovery and support the global implementation of the conclusions of the FATF, INTERPOL, and Egmont group report ‘Illicit Financial Flows from Cyber-Enabled Fraud’. We will seek to strengthen and improve awareness of broader existing mechanisms for international asset recovery.

18. We recognise that we must go further to support victims. We will continue to work through existing international fora to explore ways to improve the repatriation of fraudulently acquired funds from bank accounts across jurisdictions.

03: Pursue organised fraudsters acting transnationally

19. Law enforcement agencies across the globe undertake significant work to identify and tackle fraud. Fraudsters operate globally and international collaboration is critical to dismantle these organised networks. We will seek to build on existing initiatives and collaboration to improve the global law enforcement response.

03.A: Increase data and intelligence sharing

20. Governments and law enforcement must keep pace with the rapidly changing threat picture. To this end, we commit to the appropriate sharing of data and intelligence with INTERPOL, Europol and amongst all attendees to ensure timely intelligence sharing which will support further operational action. We will work together to support INTERPOL intelligence sharing. We will also support the increased use of core INTERPOL capabilities including, but not limited to, INTERPOL notices, services such as I-GRIP, and their ability to facilitate data and information sharing.

03.B: Strengthen enforcement activity in mutual threat areas

21. We recognise that we are collectively being targeted by criminal networks operating from specific jurisdictions. We support stronger coordination of law enforcement operations in these jurisdictions and will continue to explore further avenues to bolster collaboration, including via sanctions or other mechanisms, as may be appropriate.

03.C: Increase capability and capacity building initiatives

22. We recognise that the global impact of fraud will be disproportionate, and that fraud will hinder economic development for many. We must ensure there is sufficient support for all countries to put in place measures to combat fraud. To this end, we commit to working together to explore opportunities to share international best practice and to deliver a wide range of capability and capacity building initiatives.

04: Preventing the reach and means of fraudsters

23. Strong industry engagement is key to preventing fraud.  As our societies become more digitally centred, new technologies both improve the lives of the public and expand the modus operandi of fraudsters.

24. Technology companies (including social media, e-commerce and online messaging platforms and online advertising services), telecommunications providers and financial institutions (including traditional banks and digital financial institutions) all form part of the ecosystem that fraudsters exploit to send credible messages impersonating legitimate individuals and institutions and defraud victims.

25. We recognise that the scale and nature of the fraud threat on these platforms are vast. Industry play a critical role in the response required and we expect them to take further action to strengthen their counter-fraud efforts. There must be greater collaboration both within and across sectors.

04.A: Strengthen government and industry engagement

26. We commit to building cooperation with industry domestically and international. We will share learning, information, and resource across government, law enforcement, industry and regulators to prevent criminals exploiting these services and platforms for their own gain.

27. We expect industry to maintain a strong evidence base on the scale of fraud and the methodologies used by criminals, in order to better prevent fraud.

28. We encourage industry to increase efforts to identify and remove fraudulent materials on their public platforms.

04.B: Global consideration of industry agreements

29. Fraud is an increasingly digital crime with the threat continually evolving, including with the use of artificial intelligence. Countries may take account of best practice in their approach to working with industry to combat fraud.