Households are being warned to watch out for a new scam where fraudsters are purporting to be from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
Fraudsters are cold calling victims and telling them that they need to pay £150 to “release” compensation which they are entitled to.
The FOS which deals with complaints from consumers about the financial services industry said it would never cold call households and that their service was completely free, so it would never ask for money.
If you think a call from the FOS is suspicious and you want to check it out – you can call them directly on 0300 123 9 123.
To help protect yourself against this scam you should:
- never provide personal details – such as your address, phone number etc - unless you're absolutely sure a request is genuine;
- never hand over any payment to anyone claiming to work at the ombudsman – their service is free to all consumers and they would never ask you for money over the phone;
- never provide any of your banking or credit card details unless you know for certain that the request is genuine; and
- never give anyone your security information, such as your internet/telephone banking password or log-on details (no genuine banking firm ever asks you to provide this information).
Read more on the Financial Ombudsman Service website.
Please note: Action Fraud is not responsible for the content on external websites.
If you are a victim of fraud you can call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or use our online fraud reporting tool and receive a police crime reference number.
