News from the Wire

Report shows digital platforms' role in fraud crisis, TPA urges action on Meta

Tuesday, March 31, 2026 — 15:58:40 (UTC)

The Payments Association Calls for Urgent Action on Meta as Report Shows Digital Platforms’ Role in Fraud Crisis

London UK Tuesday, March 31st – The Payments Association, a trade body representing the payments sector, has released a report on the role digital platforms like Meta’s Facebook play in scam exposure and presents a case for shared accountability across the fraud chain.

Based on interviews with major financial institutions including Barclays, Revolut, Nationwide and Santander UK, the white paper, entitled The New Origin of APP Fraud, highlights growing concern across the sector that banks are being forced to bear the cost of fraud originating on major digital platforms.

The association has called on the government and regulators to prioritise the enforcement of standards for social media giants to stem the tide of financial crime, as the report highlights that such platforms are a primary gateway for scammers to perpetrate authorised push payment (APP) fraud.

APP fraud occurs when criminals trick victims into manually sending real-time payments to fraudulent accounts.

The report reveals a critical disconnect in the current UK regulatory framework. While the banking and payments sectors have been subject to mandatory reimbursement rules since late 2024, the digital platforms where scams actually originate face no equivalent enforceable financial liability regime.

It shows that a majority of APP fraud begins long before a transaction is initiated, often starting with fraudulent advertisements on Facebook or Instagram, and often migrating into private messaging channels such as WhatsApp and Telegram. The research highlights that in the first half of 2025 alone, over £250 million was lost to APP fraud in the UK, with around two-thirds of reported cases originating on online platforms.

Riccardo Tordera, Vice President of Policy and Government Relations at The Payments Association, said: “For too long, the polluter has not been the one paying. While banks are working tirelessly to reimburse victims and detect suspicious transfers, they are essentially trying to catch water at the bottom of a waterfall while the source remains wide open.”

“As Meta’s ecosystems have become a primary engine for scam exposure, we are calling on the government to move beyond voluntary pledges and toward mandatory, enforceable standards for digital platforms to protect consumers from APP’s point of origin.”

This latest whitepaper builds upon years of dedicated campaigning by The Payments Association regarding the dangers of APP fraud in the UK. The Association has consistently argued that the burden of fraud prevention has been unfairly skewed toward financial institutions, while tech companies have operated with voluntary commitments that have failed to deliver a sustained reduction in scam exposure.

To address these systemic failings, the whitepaper outlines a framework for shared liability that includes mandatory identity verification for advertisers and the implementation of defined response timelines for removing fraudulent content. The Payments Association is also advocating for the introduction of financial repercussions for platforms that repeatedly fail to prevent scam exposure, alongside a requirement for real-time intelligence sharing between tech firms and the payments industry. Without these interventions, the Association warns that the UK’s fraud crisis will continue to scale, leaving the financial system and the general public to bear the multi-million-pound consequences of digital platform negligence.

This comes mere days after a Los Angeles jury awarded $6 million in a landmark social media addiction case involving Instagram, highlighting growing global scrutiny of major tech platforms’ responsibility for user harm.

ENDS About The Payments Association  The Payments Association is a community for all companies in payments, whatever their size, capability, location or regulatory status. Its purpose is to empower the most influential community in payments, where the connections, collaboration and learning shape an industry that works for all. It works closely with industry stakeholders such as the Bank of England, the FCA, HM Treasury, the PSR, Pay.UK, UK Finance and Innovate Finance.  Through its comprehensive programme of activities and with guidance from an independent Advisory Board of leading payments CEOs, The Payments Association facilitates the connections and builds the bridges that join the ecosystem together and make it stronger. These activities include a programme of monthly digital and face-to-face events including an annual conference, PAY360, The PAY360 Awards dinner, CEO roundtables and training activities.   The Payments Association also runs seven stakeholder working project groups covering financial inclusion, regulation, economic crime, cross-border payments, open banking, digital currencies and ESG. The volunteers in these groups represent the collective views of the industry and work together to ensure the big problems facing the industry are addressed effectively. The association also conducts original research which is made available to members and the authorities. These include monthly whitepapers, insightful interviews and tips from the industry’s most successful CEOs.  Media contact   Ian Donegan, SkyParlour for The Payments Association  ian@skyparlour.com   +44 (0)330 043 1315 

Notice to readers: These are archived articles. Contact information, links and other details may be out of date. We regret any inconvenience.

Source: Company press release.

Categories: Reports and research