Dramatic rise in fraud and scam complaints

According to figures published by the regulator, it went up to 5,025 cases when compared with 3,028 in the same period during the previous year. Over that period, 60% of fraud and scam complaints were upheld by the organisation.

This suggests banks and other financial institutions still need to do more to resolve complaints from their customers fairly before people are forced to seek help from the Financial Ombudsman Service. The data also shows that fraud and scams continue to be one of the main drivers of complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Commenting on the figures, Financial Ombudsman Service’s interim chief executive and chief ombudsman Nausicaa Delfas, said: “It’s a real concern that we are seeing such an increase in scams. It’s vital that people take extra care with their finances, as unfortunately, fraudsters are becoming increasingly sophisticated.

“If people feel they have not been treated fairly by their banks, we are here to help.”

Overall, the Ombudsman Service received 50,906 complaints about financial businesses in the first three months of the 2021/22 financial year.

Current accounts were the most complained about product for the first time in over a decade, with consumers bringing 6,911 complaints to the service.

Fraud and scams meanwhile accounted for around half of the current account complaints that the service received in the first three months of this financial year.