Is Big Tech Doing Enough to Fight Scams? The EU Isn't So Sure

As online scammers continue to harass consumers, the European Union is investigating whether major companies, including Apple, Google, and Microsoft, are doing enough to stop the threat.

The European Commission today announced it had sent letters to the “Apple App store, Booking.com, Bing, Google Play, and Google Search on how these platforms and search engines identify and manage risks related to financial scams.” The goal is to learn how companies detect and crack down on fraudulent content, including malicious mobile apps that impersonate legitimate banking and financial products.

“For Booking.com, this concerns fake accommodation listings designed to trick users into making payments that never result in an actual booking,” the commission says. “For Bing and Google Search, the request covers links and ads that lead users to fraudulent websites, often resulting in financial losses.”

In addition, the inquiry asks how the Apple App Store, Google Play, and Booking.com verify the legitimacy of businesses that use their platforms. It also requests details about the companies’ advertising databases, which can be used to detect patterns and flag scam activities.

All the major companies have strict policies and a team devoted to shutting down scams. Still, the EU’s top tech official, Henna Virkkunen, told The Financial Times: “We have to make sure that online platforms really take all their efforts to detect and prevent that kind of illegal content.”

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The investigation comes as fraud losses in the US continue to rise, reaching $12.5 billion last year, up from $10 billion the previous year, according to the Federal Trade Commission. That said, the fraud comes from a wide variety of schemes and channels, including phone calls and text messages, along with romance and investment scams.

Under the EU’s Digital Services Act, major online platforms must protect consumers from illegal content. This includes conducting annual risk assessments and implementing “reasonable, proportionate and effective mitigation measures.” Otherwise, providers risk fines up to 6% of their global revenue per violation.