Embattled Bank Of England Governor Pushes Bill To Force Deletion Of Fraudulent Websites

Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, wants the British government to introduce new laws forcing giant tech companies to crack down on fraudulent websites, Reuters reports.

Bailey, according to the report, has been lobbying Home Secretary Priti Patel, the interior minister, on the issue. He’s been reportedly asking for it to be added to a new Online Harms Bill this year.

Right now, without that change, the Online Harms Bill will make internet giants tackle issues such as online child grooming and terrorism. Financial fraud — a widespread issue during the pandemic — was not included, however.

A spokesperson for the Bank of England didn’t comment on the report, but said Bailey had been on the record several times as saying the Online Harms Bill should be broadened to cover fiscal concerns. But she clarified that this fell under the purview of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which has to make policy in that area instead of the Bank of England.

Some critics have accused Google of benefiting from the fraud as the tech giant allows those looking to peddle the fake schemes to pay it for ad space.

Google responds by saying it works to take down the scams as they pop up.

Big Tech has not been viewed favorably in recent times, with antitrust concerns from Congress in the U.S. focusing on Google as well as fellow tech giants like Facebook, Apple and Amazon. The concerns target the ways the companies reportedly square off sections of the market and push out smaller competitors.

Cybercrime has also been on the rise, according to FBI reports that have complaints soaring to close to 800,000 last year, a 69 percent increase since 2019. There were total losses of over $4.1 billion.

The report notes that officials are having some success fighting the scams, though, such as in one case PYMNTS quotes in which some of a hand sanitizer company’s funds were salvaged.