The UK government is moving the focus of fraud prevention upstream to telecoms providers and banks to get them to take greater responsibility for fraud. The focus is no longer on damage control, but on preventing attacks. The goals are lofty, but the details are thin on the ground. “While telecommunications infrastructure has transformed connectivity and driven growth, gaps and vulnerabilities have enabled criminals to deliver fraudulent texts and calls to victims at scale,” says the UK’s new Fraud Strategy 2026-29. “To disrupt fraud, criminals must be denied access to the telecommunications network. Achieving this will require close collaboration between the government, regulators, law enforcement, and the telecommunications industry.” The paper describes how 53% of reported cases of Authorized Push Payment fraud (a scam where victims are tricked into sending money to fraudsters posing as payees)…