Doherty calls for EU to take action on scammers

Fine Gael MEP Regina Doherty has called on EU regulators to take the issue of scamming more seriously.

Doherty criticised the EU over their failure to legislate against fraudulent online ads for financial services, warning that criminal networks are thriving online while social media and telecoms companies profit.

“This isn’t a few dodgy ads slipping through the net, this is organised fraud happening at scale,” said Doherty. “And the law currently says that the platforms hosting them are under no obligation to do anything proactive about it.”

This week, Doherty convened a high-level roundtable in the European Parliament, bringing together senior cybersecurity officials from Europol, banking leaders, and EU financial regulators to demand action. The event drew a packed room of MEPs, Parliament staff, and European Commission officials, signalling growing political urgency.

Doherty confirmed her team has become aware of evidence of scam ads which ran on a major social media platform for a long period of time, and which were not taken down despite being reported.

“EU legislators need to stop dragging their feet. The rule should be: if you host an ad online, you should make sure it is legitimate.

“These criminals aren’t just targeting vulnerable people, they’re undermining the very trust that businesses in the financial services sector depend on,” she said. “If people lose faith in what they see on these platforms, they stop engaging. And when trust in the platform breaks down, so does the ability of honest businesses to make a living.”

Head of Financial Crime at the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland, Niamh Davenport, whose organisation represents major Irish banks including Bank of Ireland, addressed the room and said, “It is about recognising that as long as criminals can buy ads unchecked, we will remain stuck in a reactive cycle, cleaning up after the harm has already been done.”

The roundtable also featured:

• Edvardas Šileris, Head of Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3)

• Elie Beyrouthy, Chair of the European Payment Institution Federation (EPIF)

• Eric Ducoulombier, Director at DG FISMA (European Commission’s financial regulation division)

• Rita Wazenbeek, Director of Platforms at European Commission, DG CONNECT

Doherty concluded, “I am campaigning for EU legislators to change the law on financial scams to make it mandatory for platforms and telecommunication service providers to make sure that ads purporting to be from financial services firms are properly verified before they appear online. All too often, people fall victim to scam ads that claim to offer investment or saving opportunities but end up stealing huge amounts of their money.”

“Tech giants have been given a free ride for far too long. They’re enabling fraud, profiting from it, and leaving the clean-up to banks, regulators, and victims. That ends now. The EU must act. No more excuses.”