Martin Lewis: ‘There's an epidemic of scams, but fraudsters are getting off scot-free'
The text message from HMRC about a Covid-19 refund, the email about a mysterious DHL parcel that couldn't be delivered, the breathless Facebook post from Martin Lewis, urging you to invest in bitcoin – scams are a daily hazard of modern life.
Yet Lewis, the consumer champion who sued Facebook to force them to remove the fake adverts using his name, says that ministers have given fraudsters an "open charter" by failing to tackle online fraud. Although a bill for online safety will be presented to parliament in the Queen's speech next week, it will not include any measures to force tech giants, such as Facebook and Google, to vet all adverts they publish on their platforms – a legal requirement for TV companies and publishers.
