‘It’s concerning to see high levels of fraud and scams cases continue to come to our service. People can feel embarrassed to have fallen victim to a fraud or scam, but these crimes can be complex and incredibly convincing’
Fraud and scams are set to dominate the workload of the financial ombudsman, with predictions that they will makeup about one in three new banking and loan cases in the next financial year.
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is bracing for fraud and scams to represent 35% of its new banking and loan cases in 2025-26, not counting credit card issues and motor finance commission disputes. The free dispute resolution service is gearing up for over 37,000 complaints related to fraud and scams, including those involving authorised push payment (APP) scams and cryptocurrency fraud.
This marks a rise from the 33,000 fraud and scam cases expected by the end of the current financial year. The FOS is also preparing to tackle a variety of other banking problems, such as issues with savings accounts, short-term lending, and mortgages.
Abby Thomas, chief executive and chief ombudsman at the FOS, expressed concern: “It’s concerning to see high levels of fraud and scams cases continue to come to our service. People can feel embarrassed to have fallen victim to a fraud or scam, but these crimes can be complex and incredibly convincing, and nobody should be afraid to come forward.”
“No matter how difficult a case may be, people can come with confidence to our free, independent service and we’ll investigate their complaint.”
In its consultation document regarding the 2025-26 plans and budget, the service has forecasted it will handle around 240,000 new complaints.
The service anticipates resolving approximately 270,000 cases next year, comprising both new complaints and lingering disputes. The proposed budget includes plans to boost resources to aid the progression of cases.