FOS warns of ‘dramatic’ rise in scam complaints

The significant rise has spurred the FOS to issue a public warning about the wave of scams.

The number of customers asking the Financial Ombudsman Service for help with fraud and scams complaints in one quarter rose from 3,028 last year to 5,025 this year.

Over the latest period, 60% of fraud and scam complaints were upheld by the FOS, compared with 50% the previous year.

The FOS says banks and other financial institutions need to do more to resolve complaints before people are forced to seek help from the Financial Ombudsman Service.

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The data, published today, shows that fraud and scam complaints continue to be one of the main drivers of complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

The Ombudsman Service also saw an increase in complaints about cryptocurrencies during the pandemic.

The FOS says that while cryptocurrencies are unregulated investments, it can look into complaints about banking providers who refuse to reimburse consumers who feel they’ve been a victim of a cryptocurrency fraud or scam.

Anecdotal evidence suggests the increase in complaints about cryptocurrency complaints could be in part driven by social media-based scams, the FOS says.

Overall, the Ombudsman Service received 50,906 complaints about financial businesses in the first three months of the financial year.

For the first time in over a decade, current accounts were the most complained about product, with consumers bringing 6,911 complaints to the service. Fraud and scams accounted for around half of the current account complaints that the service received in the first three months of this financial year.

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