Banks have accused internet giants of profiting from online fraud and demanded government action as new figures reveal that scams rose to record levels during the pandemic. A total of £479 million was stolen from people in so-called “push-payment scams” — in which fraudsters trick victims into transferring money to them — last year. SponsoredIt is a 5 per cent rise compared with 2019 and the largest loss ever recorded. The number of people who fell victim to these scams rose 22 per cent to almost 150,000. UK Finance, the banking industry body, said most scams were carried out online, with internet giants slow to take action to remove fraudulent websites that had paid to advertise with them.

Source: The Times March 25, 2021 12:02 UTC