The 21-member strong coalition, Stop Scams UK, comprises the UK’s largest banks, telecomms companies Three and Talk Talk, and Big Tech firms Meta, Google and Microsoft.

Initially launched in 2021 to run a short code phone service for bank customers to report instance of fraud, the group has since been working intently on data sharing iniatives to establish how information can be better and more effectively shared between organisations.

For its latest initiative, Stop Scams UK intends to use 300 known fraud phone numbers and 100 email addresses to interact with scammers, discretely gather information about their modus operandi and use the data collected to shut them down.

Stop Scams will concentrate its efforts on disrupting money mule networks, individuals who allow criminals to transfer fraudulent cash through their accounts to cover their tracks through the banking system.

Simon Miller, director of policy and communications at Stop Scams UK, told CityAM: “The pilot will provide extremely valuable information on how scams operate,” saying it would “create an incredibly rich, first-hand evidence of scammers’ modus operandi.”