Ofcom is proud to continue our support for Safer Internet Day, an initiative taking place today that shares our aim of helping everyone to live a safer life online.
This year’s theme is ‘Too good to be true?’, focusing on how people can protect themselves and others from online scams – and we know from our own research the devastating impact fraud and scams can cause.
We found that around nine in ten people in the UK have come across online content they suspected to be a scam or fraud, with over a quarter losing money as a result - this underlines the importance of helping people to protect themselves from this type of crime.
As the UK’s regulator for online safety, we've already announced tough new measures that tech firms must take in order to tackle fraud under the Online Safety Act. These include: keyword searches that will detect content associated with fraud; improved fraud reporting to disrupt scammers; and having in place clear policies for user verification, to prevent scammers impersonating celebrities, companies and government bodies.
Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom Chief Executive said: “As the UK's Online Safety regulator, we’re working hard to ensure that every day is a safer internet day for children and young people, and that includes playing our part in the multi-agency effort to thwart fraudsters who operate online.
“With scams becoming ever more sophisticated, and the devastating impact on victims often going way beyond financial loss, we’re proud to stand with Safer Internet Day to help raise awareness of the tell-tale signs to look out for, and empower our children with the skills they need to protect themselves online.”
We’ve gathered some tips to help you beat the scammers – find out how you can protect yourself.
And we recently asked Ofcom colleagues for their top tips too – take a look at our suggestions.