Debate contribution: Tackling Scams and Improving Public Protection

Debate contribution by Mr Doug Beattie MC on 9 December 2025.

MLA

Mr Doug Beattie MC

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

9 December 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Tackling Scams and Improving Public Protection

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5296484

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Tackling scams is not just about catching criminals; it is about protecting dignity, safeguarding savings and restoring trust in our digital and financial systems. Scams can be tackled effectively when there is a joined-up effort on prevention, enforcement and the public awareness of trade. Stronger real-time cooperation between the PSNI, the National Crime Agency, banks and telecom providers would allow suspicious activity to be identified and stopped more quickly, preventing losses before they occur. Better use of shared data and fast account-freezing powers would significantly disrupt organised scam networks. Ultimately, tackling scams successfully depends on making criminals' lives harder while making the public more confident, informed and protected. I thank the Minister for coming to the Chamber and giving us quite comprehensive feedback on the motion and outlining how it sits with the safer communities strand of the Programme for Government. However, it is important to say — this has been said across the Chamber — that the issue sits not just with our criminal justice system and that there has to be a response from all Departments, including Health, Communities, Infrastructure and Finance. Everybody has a part to play in it.

My colleague, Diana Armstrong, highlighted the issue well in her contribution. Scams are an insidious method of theft. It is organised crime and the harvesting of information. It creates victims, even big corporate organisations. It is certainly not victimless crime.

I will give an example of a Romania-based organised crime group that was involved in a large-scale phishing operation targeting UK government services and individuals. It sent out emails and texts that appeared to come from legitimate organisations such as HMRC, banks and other authorities in order to trick victims into revealing sensitive information. It then used that sensitive information to claim benefits. That is what those groups are sucking from society. In July 2025, 13 individuals were arrested near Bucharest and one in the UK as part of a major international operation targeting a phishing campaign that defrauded UK taxpayers to the tune of £47 million. People do it in other ways, however. Scammers impersonate NHS GPs and contact individuals by phone, text or email, pretending to be from the NHS, a GP practice or other health service. They might ask you to update your records because, if you do not, they will take your name off their list. People give them their date of birth, their NHS number or their address, and, again, that information is harvested in order to claim benefits. There are multiple types of scam. I did not realise how many types of scam there were until I looked them up. There is phishing, smishing, vishing, spear phishing and whaling, as well as romance scams, investment-in-crypto scams, tech-support scams, impersonation scams, lotteries, jobs and rental scams. Kate Nicholl mentioned emergency scams, where somebody messages, "Hi mum, I've lost my phone, and I'm using a friend's phone. Can you send me money?". It happens a lot; I have received that one myself. I have kids and grandkids, so I had to stop and think twice. They gain your information if you engage. The motion notes the:

"financial and emotional harm caused to victims, many of whom are older people or vulnerable".

Many older people are far too embarrassed to say that they have been scammed, so they do not report it. That is what the Minister was saying when she talked about under-reporting. People are too embarrassed, but they need to be told that they must come forward to their bank or financial services. We need a public awareness campaign on that, and, again, the Minister outlined that well. Knowledge, awareness and information are key in this digital world. Knowledge is the battleground in scams. The motion calls on the Justice Minister to work with her Executive colleagues. That is the important part, because, although she is here and gave her response, all Ministers need to come together. Further to that, the motion calls for a:

"cross-departmental strategy to strengthen prevention, improve detection and enforcement".

It has been a good debate. I will be honest; I have not heard any dissenting voices, and I have learned something from all corners of the House. That is a good thing, because this is important. This is happening in real time, and it is affecting our people. We can all have our disagreements and arguments, but this is real. Emma Sheerin was absolutely right to point out that crime recognises no borders. Her amendment adds value to our motion, and we will support it. In her winding-up speech, Ciara talked about the rising number of scams and their increasing sophistication. Cheryl Brownlee mentioned the case of Eddie and the way in which older people are being targeted by fraudsters, as well as the use of AI. AI is a great tool, but it is a double-edged sword, and it can be used against us. Connie Egan said that scams are under-reported because of shame and embarrassment, and she is absolutely right. People are ashamed to say that they fell for a scam, particularly if it is one of those romance scams, where somebody takes money off you because you think there is —.

You raised two points. The first point is that every one of us in here is susceptible to scams, as is every person outside here. If Martin Lewis can be scammed, everybody can be scammed, and social media can, of course, do more. It can always do more. Patsy McGlone outlined the financial cost of scams and, like Emma, focused on cross-border cooperation. Keith Buchanan talked about the sophisticated global threat and the emotional scars that come from being involved in scams. That is why I mentioned the international element to all of this. Sometimes we think that scams are on our doorsteps, but they are absolutely not. They may feel as though they are on our doorstep, but sometimes they are from an awfully long way away. When you are replying to that Nigerian prince who wants to put £2 million into your bank account, that is coming from an awful long way away. It is certainly not coming from somewhere close to home. I already mentioned Kate, who raised a good point in her contribution, as did Peter when he talked about Just Eat. That had slipped my mind until you mentioned it, Peter, to be honest. I remember watching a programme about the very issue of Just Eat, and it shows you that some of the larger companies can afford to take the hit on those scams, but it is the smaller people who simply cannot do so. It was a good debate, and I am glad that we have had it. It was the last debate of 2025. Maybe things will get hotter when the debate is finished; I do not know. It was a good-natured debate, and some good information came across. As it is the last debate of 2025, on behalf of the Ulster Unionist Party, I wish everybody in the Chamber and outside of it a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

1,192 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:09 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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