Letters

Sorry Martin Lewis, you’re wrong about web scams

Normally I agree with Martin Lewis and his campaigns, but I think he’s misguided in his bid to add scam protection to the Government’s Online Harms Bill (‘Question of the Fortnight’, Issue 597). I have a lot of respect for Martin’s work in protecting the vulnerable, but clamping down on scams requires different techniques to tackling illegal content like terrorist videos and images of child sexual abuse.

Scams are usually perpetrated by small-time crooks and should be dealt with by the police, as indeed some (but nowhere near enough) are. They are clearly harrowing for the victim, but they don’t represent existential threats to our way of life, as terrorist propaganda does, and they’re not as sickening as online child abuse. These threats are of a different severity entirely.

I know Mr Lewis likes to take on the authorities, but he should tone down some of his language. Leaving scams out of the bill isn’t “unthinkable”, as he claims. Such mock outrage reminds me of the explosive language you often