Fake Financial Ombudsman Warning

Fake Financial Ombudsman Warning.

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), the complaints handling service for disputes between clients and financial firms, has issued a warning to consumers to be on the lookout for fraudulent calls.

In a release today, the FOS suggests consumers are getting called by scammers purporting to be from the Financial Ombudsman trying to secure your personal and financial information.

The Ombudsman suggests they do not send letters or make unsolicited calls “out of the blue”.  They will only contact you if you have already been in touch about a complaint.

They ask that if you have been approached by a fake Financial Ombudsman then you contact them online at www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk or call 0800 0234567.

Comment

For you own security, as ever:

• Never give personal details or financial information to anybody unless you are absolutely sure who you are talking to.
• Never give passwords or PIN numbers
• Never use easy to remember words or family dates of birth in pin numbers or passwords. 
• Never use the same passwords/PIN numbers across multiple services, websites or telephone banking systems
• Make up your own words, use numbers, letters and characters not in sequence
• Use a password generator tool.
• Change them all frequently.