Government publishes new Online Fraud Charter

In May this year, the Government published its Fraud Strategy, which included a commitment to agree a Fraud Charter with technology companies. Fraud Sector Charters are voluntary agreements between industry and government to improve counter-fraud efforts. 

The Online Fraud Charter, signed by 12 of the UK’s largest online platforms and services and the Government, has been published today. The Charter recognises that online platforms and services are increasingly being exploited by criminals for the purposes of fraud and money laundering, and sets out commitments from signatories, as applicable to their business models, to tackle fraud through a range of different measures including reporting, blocking and intelligence-sharing.

For companies that provide paid-for advertising services, the commitments include deploying specific measures to protect people from fraudulent ads, including verification of new advertisers and confirming that UK companies advertising financial products or services are authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

These signatories also commit to engaging with the Online Advertising Taskforce, part of the Government’s ongoing Online Advertising Programme (OAP) workstream. The Taskforce, which includes IAB UK, is exploring industry-led, non-legislative solutions to tackle illegal ads, including fraudulent ads. Read more about the Taskforce, including its Action Plan, here.