Social media firms should reimburse online fraud victims, say UK bankers

Boss of industry body UK Finance accuses tech companies of ‘profiting’ from scams on their platforms

The boss of the banking industry body UK Finance has called on social media companies to reimburse victims of online fraud, accusing them of “profiting” from scams taking place on their platforms.

Figures from its fraud report show that 78% of authorised push payment scams, where a victim is tricked into approving a transaction, started online in the second half of last year, with about three-quarters of those beginning on social media.