Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says the new strategy will 'take the fight to these fraudsters, wherever they try to hide' and block scams 'at the source'. The aim is to reduce fraud by 10% on 2019 levels by 2025.
Here, Which? takes a closer look at what the government plans to do to tackle fraud and how it will affect consumers.
Ban on cold calls and scam texts
Cold calling to sell financial products will be banned in an attempt to stop scammers cheating people into buying fake investments over the phone.
Pretending to be a loved one or legitimate business such as a bank has become popular with criminals trying to trick customers into handing over money or personal details.
Data from Santander reveals the practice is on the rise, with £10.2m worth of impersonation scams between January-March this year, up 11% from the same period last year. The average reported loss per customer was £6,906 for this period.
Cold calling about pension products is already banned and this new rule would cover calls selling any financial product including types of insurance or crypto currency schemes. The aim is to make anyone receiving a call such as this confident enough to hang up and report the scammer.
The government says it will consult on a wider ban on cold calls by the summer, with the new law coming into force as soon as possible after.
Find out more:Number spoofing crackdown
The government plans to work with Ofcom to use new technology to further clamp down on number spoofing, so fraudsters cannot impersonate legitimate UK phone numbers.
'Spoofing' is used by scammers to trick victims into thinking they were being contacted by a trusted caller, such as their bank, in order to persuade them to pass on personal details that will allow them to steal your cash.
Find out more:Payment processing delay
Banks will also be allowed to delay payments from being processed for longer to allow for suspect payments to be investigated.
This could help prevent future incidences of authorised push payment (APP) fraud - where people are tricked into sending money to accounts controlled by criminals. The latest UK Finance UK figures showed £249.1m was lost to APP fraud in the first half of 2022.
Find out more:Better reporting and investigations
There are plans to replace Action Fraud - the UK's current fraud reporting centre - with a state-of-the-art system for victims to report fraud and cyber crimes to the police.
Backed by a £30m investment, the replacement will provide a simpler route for reporting fraud online, with reduced waiting times and an online portal to allow victims to get timely updates on the progress of their case.
The government says it will also ensure intelligence is shared quickly with industry and law enforcement so that action is taken early to stop fraud.
A new National Fraud Squad with over 400 new specialist investigators will also be launched, making fraud a priority for the police. The government claims 70% of fraud in the UK either starts overseas or has an international link, so there will also be a crackdown on fraudsters operating from abroad.
Which? and the fight against scams
Rocio Concha, Which? director of policy and advocacy, said: 'The fight against fraud has progressed far too slowly in recent years and in particular more action is needed to guarantee that big tech platforms take serious action against fraud.
'The government must ensure that the Online Safety Bill delivers meaningful protections for consumers against a flood of online fraud infiltrating the world’s biggest search engines and social media sites.
'It’s positive to see the government at last producing a strategy that recognises a joined-up approach with the ambition that data is shared between industry and law enforcement is needed to tackle the UK’s fraud epidemic, which has such a devastating financial and emotional toll on the lives of victims.
'Ultimately, consumers will judge the success of this strategy by whether they end up with better fraud detection, prevention, support and redress.'
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