Investment scams are the fastest growing “authorised” scam complaint that the UK Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) now receives and over half of these complaints involve cryptocurrency.

As part of its latest quarterly data publication, the Financial Ombudsman has found that investment scams have seen the biggest increase as a proportion of “authorised” scam complaints, despite the number of “authorised” scam complaints decreasing overall.

The Financial Ombudsman received around 1,900 complaints about “authorised” scams against the consumer’s bank, compared to around 2,380 in the first quarter of 2021/22 (1 April – 30 June 2022). The Financial Ombudsman upheld around 60% of investment fraud complaints in the consumers’ favour.

Below is a breakdown of its “authorised” complaints caseload for the first quarter in 2022/23 as well as the same period in 2021/22.

Analysis of around a fifth of the investment fraud complaints received in the first quarter of this financial year shows that over half of the investment fraud complaints involved cryptocurrencies. A typical cryptocurrency scam involves a consumer being persuaded to purchase a cryptocurrency through a legitimate intermediary and sending money to what they believe is a genuine investment platform, but which is in reality operated by fraudsters. In cases of investment fraud, the Financial Ombudsman has seen examples of consumers being scammed out of tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Nausicaa Delfas, interim Chief Executive and Chief Ombudsman, Financial Ombudsman Service said:

“Complaints about investment scams are currently the fastest growing type of fraud complaint that the Financial Ombudsman Service receives.

We are concerned that, in current economic circumstances, people could be tempted to invest in fake investments. Our advice to consumers is be wary, conduct their own research, check the FCA register and contact the firm directly on the number listed. If people feel they have been treated unfairly by their bank, they should contact the Financial Ombudsman Service, and we will see whether we can help”.