The United Kingdom governance is taking a measure that will clamp crypto fraud in the region. It plans to ban cold calls selling crypto and other financial products.
BBC News reported the move from the UK government as part of the actions involves blocking fraudulent communication routes of the scammers and creating delays in suspicious payments.
UK Government Creates A New Strategy
The UK government is to ban cold calls on all financial products related to crypto and insurance through the fraud strategy and it plans to cooperate with the telecoms regulator Office of Communications. This will help to crack down on number ‘spoofing’ and prevent scammers from impersonating legitimate UK phone numbers to defraud their targets.
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Further, the government declared its intention to provide 400 new employment opportunities. This move will assist in updating its measures to intelligence-based policing in the country.
Additionally, the government intends to ban other approaches and devices like ‘sim farms’ scammers use to reach thousands of residents at once. Also, it will monitor mass texting services to keep fraudsters at bay.
Sim farms are innovative devices that can contain hundreds of sim cards. A computer can control them from any point. Criminals usually use sim farms to create and send multiple scam texts simultaneously.
Another move by the government is that banks in the UK will delay the processing of payments for a more extended period creating more time to investigate suspicious transactions.
Increasing Rate Of Crypto Scams In The UK
The increasing rate of fraud and scams in the United Kingdom is becoming alarming, as 1 out of 15 people fall victim to scammers.
Ofcom disclosed that scammers targeted about 41 million residents in the UK through fraudulent texts and calls last summer. Also, the annual cost of fraud in the country is estimated to be £7 billion, equivalent to about $8.7 billion.
According to a report from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Observer, the UK has become a convenient place for criminals to attack. The report cited that the friendly regulations within the region make it an operational base for fraudsters.
UK company registration takes as little as £12. Also, there’s no requirement for any form of identification. This simplicity of the process has attracted many fraudulent firms to register and operate in the country.
However, the UK government has recently been putting more effort into crypto firms in its jurisdiction. The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is implementing the new Financial Services and Markets Act rules for the crypto assets market. The law demands that all crypto-related companies in the region register with FCA.
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