Joint Fraud Taskforce board minutes: 24 October 2024
Published 26 November 2024
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Welcome
The Minister of State opened the Joint Fraud Taskforce (JFT) and introduced himself formally in his new role leading on tackling fraud.
The Minister emphasised the importance of collaborative working, focussing on data sharing, and working closely with the Financial, Tech and Telecommunications sectors. He then highlighted the latest Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) figures, stating that we must continue working together to reduce the level of fraud.
The Minister noted progress on the current Fraud Strategy and endorsed the continued delivery of the actions in it. He highlighted that this government’s ambition is to go further with an outcome focussed approach.
The Minister introduced Baroness Jones of Whitechurch, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Future Digital Economy and Online Safety, (DSIT) (BJoW) who reiterated the importance of collaborative working and ongoing efforts with regards to the Online Safety Act (OSA). The Minister then introduced the Rt Hon Tulip Siddiq, Economic Secretary to the Treasury (EST) who endorsed comments from BJoW and stressed that fraud was a priority for this government, requiring a ‘unified cross-departmental effort’.
There were further introductory comments from Victim Support, City of London Police, Ofcom and the National Economic Crime Centre.
Sector charters
Online Fraud Charter
The Minister provided a recap on the commitments made in the Online Fraud Charter (OFC) and invited signatories to comment on successes and challenges in its implementation.
Signatories of the charter outlined their progress in implementing charter commitments. Organisations endorsed the government’s approach and spoke positively on the collaborative work to date with law enforcement, whilst emphasising the importance of appropriate data sharing.
Signatories unanimously agreed to deepen their, already close, collaboration with government and law enforcement in driving down fraud.
A discussion followed with comments from around the table.
The Minister requested that a one-page document from the signatories, detailing their delivery of the charter to get a collective view on implementation, challenges, opportunities, and potential next steps for the government to take.
Insurance Fraud Charter
Home Office officials outlined the Insurance Fraud Charter, published on the day of the JFT meeting. Officials noted key aspects of the charter including disrupting professional enablers of insurance fraud, greater information sharing, improving controls on data theft and gathering data on illegal insurance intermediaries.
Association for British Insurers (ABI) noted their strong support on the commitments in the charter and highlighted that insurance fraud is a high impact fraud, causing a negative ripple effect on consumers. The actions in the charter will have an impact on consumer awareness.
The Minster welcomed comments from the British Insurance Brokers Association who mentioned the far-reaching effects of insurance fraud.
The Minister commissioned ABI, BIBA and Lloyds Market Association (LMA) to provide an update on charter implementation and next steps at the next JFT.
Future charters - Telecommunications Charter 2
Home Office officials introduced the Telecommunication 2.0 Charter proposal to build on success of the implementation of the first Telecommunications Fraud Sector Charter. Officials highlighted key areas of focus for the new charter, including data sharing, scam calls, scam texts and victim support.
JFT members, including the Communications Crime Strategy Group, welcomed the second charter and stated the intention to shortly begin work on developing specific actions.
Stop! Think Fraud campaign evaluation and upcoming activity
An official from the Home Office Communications team summarised the implementation and impact of Stop! Think Fraud Campaign, noting the campaign resulted in a positive shift in public behaviours, with people increasingly able to identify potentially fraudulent activity and take appropriate proactive action.
The campaign has received approval to continue.
Closing remarks
The Minister of State closed the meeting and thanked members for their continued support and collaboration. The Minister stated that he looks forward to continuing working together with members.