Tech giant Meta says it will expand an information sharing partnership with UK banks after a pilot with NatWest and Metro helped take out thousands of scammers on its platforms.
The Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange (FIRE) threat intelligence sharing programme allows banks to share information with Meta - owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp - directly.
The six-month pilot with NatWest and Metro Bank led to action against thousands of accounts run by scammers, with approximately 20,000 removed based on data shared. Among the successes, the programme led to the takedown of a concert ticket scam network attempting to target people in the UK and US.
Meta will now onboard more UK banks, with Nathaniel Gleicher, global head, counter-fraud at Meta, saying: “We will only beat these criminals if we work together and share relevant information related to scams. Financial institutions can share unique information with us which we can in turn use to train our systems to take action against more scams globally.”
David Lindberg, CEO, retail banking, NatWest, adds: "Partnering with Meta is an important step in tackling the epidemic of fraud. We welcome the opportunity to deepen our collaboration and ensure a cross-industry approach to fraud prevention and enforcement.”
Nik Adams, temporary assistant commissioner, City of London Police, welcomes the initiative, saying: "We hope this expansion will rapidly increase Meta’s ability to act upon harmful content and to support the wider fight against fraud through the sharing of intelligence and insight that disrupt criminals, design out fraud, and protect victims.”
The expansion of the FIRE programme comes as banks campaign for big tech, social media and telcos to take more responsibility for fraud that originates from their platforms.
This month, regulators are rolling out new rules for the banking industry that will see the vast majority of money lost to Authorised Push Payment frauds reimbursed to victims.
But, with 76% of APP fraud originating online, banks argue that tech giants should share the burden. Recently HSBC UK head of fraud David Callington recently argued: "The wider ecosystem, and key players in that ecosystem, have to be held to account," adding that "they [tech firms] need the financial incentive.”
Last year, 11 tech and social media firms signed up to a UK Online Fraud Charter to combat the rising level of scams from fake adverts and romance fraud. However, UK Finance has called for government to take a tougher approach, drawing on this voluntary charter for a bill.