The fight against scams has gone global. Help still has to reach the kitchen table.

Over the past few weeks the UK government has visibly stepped up its pursuit of the people running scams, not just the warnings to the rest of us to be careful. It's something we've wanted to see for a long time.

In late September, the government announced an agreement with Cambodia to help take apart the "scam centres" there. In early October, the National Crime Agency hosted an international operation in London against West African scam networks, which saw millions of scam accounts removed and arrests in Ghana and Nigeria.

That's welcome news, and it deserves credit. But a report Age UK published in September is a useful reminder of where most scams actually land: on one person, alone at their computer, deciding whether to click.

Taking the fight to the source

The agreement with Cambodia, signed on 23 September, commits both countries to share intelligence, pursue prosecutions and support the trafficked workers who are often forced to run these frauds. The UK will also train Cambodian officers in cyber investigation and digital forensics. As Lord Hanson put it, "Fraudsters don't respect international borders." Read the GOV.UK announcement.

The operation that followed in early October was larger still. Police from ten countries worked with companies including Meta, Google, Microsoft and Coinbase. Meta says it removed more than 3.7 million Facebook and Instagram accounts, pages and groups, most of which appeared to be targeting people in the UK and US. Police confirmed 28 arrests, and 117 people who had been trafficked into scam compounds in Ghana were rescued. The minister's message was that overseas gangs are behind most of the scams reaching British homes. Read Meta's account of the operation.

Both moves come under the government's Fraud Strategy for 2026 to 2029, published in March. It commits more than £250 million to tackling fraud, including a new Online Crime Centre designed to shut down scam websites, accounts and phone numbers at scale.

What the figures say about life at home

On 5 October, Report Fraud, the national service that replaced Action Fraud earlier this year, launched a campaign on account hacking. One figure stands out. Reported losses from hacked email and social media accounts reached £6.3 million in the 2025 to 2026 financial year, up from £1.2 million the year before. Read the coverage in IBTimes UK. City of London Police, which runs the service, is careful to say that much of the jump reflects changes in how incidents are reported, rather than a fivefold rise in attacks. Even so, the scam itself is real and common. Read the coverage in The Record.

It works like this. A criminal gets into someone's email, Facebook or Instagram, then messages their friends and family asking to borrow money, or offering concert tickets that don't exist. The message arrives from a name you trust, which is exactly why it works. No international operation can stop that message from reaching your screen.

Most older people are somewhere in the middle

Age UK's report, Digital Done Right, published on 3 September, is one of the most useful pictures yet of how people over 65 in England actually use the internet. Rather than splitting them into "online" and "offline", it finds four groups:

• 1.6 million are fully online and confident with things like banking and NHS services.
• 5.2 million are comfortable at home, but do a narrower range of things online.
• 2.7 million go online each week, but usually with some help.
• 1.4 million don't go online at all.

In other words, most older people are neither experts nor refuseniks. They manage, mostly, and sometimes they aren't sure. Among those who stay offline altogether, distrust of online fraud is one of the reasons they give.

The charity is calling on the government for a sustained national programme on digital skills, a legal guarantee of offline access to essential services such as banking and the NHS, better minimum standards for apps and websites, and a government-led initiative against online scams. It is also clear that some people will never go online and shouldn't be shut out of daily life because of it. Read Age UK's announcement.

Our view

We're glad to see the government treating fraud as serious organised crime and going after it at the source. Every scam centre closed and every fake account removed means fewer messages reaching people's inboxes.

But Age UK's figures show where the rest of the work lies. Millions of older people are doing well online most of the time and simply want someone to check with when something feels off. That help has to happen at home, at the moment of doubt, and it has to come in plain words without making anyone feel foolish for asking.

What you can do now

A few habits still do most of the work:

• If someone asks for money by message, ring them on a number you already have before sending anything. A real friend or relative won't mind.
• Turn on two-step verification for your email and social media, so a stolen password alone isn't enough to get in. Report Fraud also suggests passkeys where they're offered.
• Be cautious with unexpected "compensation" or "refund" offers, especially any that ask for bank details or copies of documents.
• Report anything suspicious. Contact Report Fraud at reportfraud.police.uk or on 0300 123 2040. In Scotland, call Police Scotland on 101. Every report helps police spot patterns and close scams down.

If you're helping a parent or grandparent, Age UK's four groups are a good conversation starter. Ask which one sounds most like them, and what they'd find most useful to have a hand with.

That second opinion, at home and in plain words, is what Tuno is built to give: patient help on your own computer and a check on a suspicious email or pop-up, with you still in charge. Tuno is available now in the UK. See how to get started.