The Payments Association, a UK trade body for the payments sector, recently released a white paper advocating for stringent measures from governments and regulatory bodies. This document highlights that most authorised push payment (APP) fraud incidents originate on platforms like Meta’s Facebook and Instagram before moving to private messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram.
This report, titled The New Origin of APP Fraud, was developed through conversations with significant financial institutions, including Barclays, Revolut, Nationwide, and Santander UK. Data from the first half of 2025 indicates that over £250 million in losses were due to APP fraud in the United Kingdom, with approximately two-thirds of reported cases linked to online platform beginnings.
Regulatory Framework and Proposed Solutions
The white paper uncovers a significant gap in the UK’s current regulatory landscape. Although banks and payment service providers have faced mandatory reimbursement rules for APP fraud since late 2024, digital platforms where these scams initially occur are not subject to equivalent enforceable liability regimes. This situation imposes an undue burden on financial institutions, which must compensate victims of fraud that originated elsewhere.
To correct this imbalance, the report suggests a shared liability model involving mandatory identity verification for advertisers, established timelines for content removal, monetary penalties for platforms repeatedly failing to prevent scam exposure, and real-time sharing of intelligence between tech companies and the payments industry.
The document also underscores the Payments Association’s belief that voluntary commitments by platforms have not sufficiently reduced the risk of scams. It thus calls for governmental intervention through mandatory enforceable standards rather than relying on voluntary pledges.
In summary, Riccardo Tordera, Vice President of Policy and Government Relations at The Payments Association, emphasized that banks are currently grappling with these issues, and highlighted the need for platform responsibility at the point where fraud first arises. He urged the government to mandate such standards promptly.
