Action to tackle fraudsters and criminals who use the internet to con consumers will be a key theme of the Government’s forthcoming Consumer White Paper, Consumer Affairs Minister Gareth Thomas said. He was speaking about the Government’s forthcoming Consumer White Paper to an audience of Trading Standards representatives and others at Manchester Town Hall.
The minister said more effective enforcement was needed to protect consumers using the internet to buy goods and services from scams and fraud. Proposals will be brought forward in a White Paper to be published in the summer.
Gareth Thomas said: "E-criminals and fraudsters can be highly sophisticated, mobile, working across regional and national boundaries. With British consumers making almost double the amount of online transactions compared to the European average, they are twice as likely to be exposed to online fraudsters.
"Our current system is designed to protect the consumer who goes to a shopping centre or retail park. But the modern consumer is now increasingly buying goods and services through websites that could be run from anywhere in the world, with goods shipped and delivered across borders.
"We need to create a regime that is fit to protect the consumer from modern fraudsters and criminals. This means looking more innovatively at new ways of working."
Mr Thomas said other themes of the White Paper would include helping vulnerable consumers, including people in debt, borrowing and lending more responsibly, strengthening consumers’ ability to make informed decisions, and streamlining and modernising consumer law.
Some background
According to a European Commission report on cross-border e-commerce in the EU, in 2008 32% of individuals in the EU27 ordered goods or services over the internet for private use in the past year. In the UK in 2008, 57% of individuals had ordered goods or services over the internet for private use in the last year.
http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/strategy/docs/com_staff_wp2009_en.pdf
