Complaints about fraud and scams have reached a new high, according to the UK financial ombudsman.
The ombudsman recorded 8,734 complaints between April and June, with over half of those cases related to online bank transfers.
In the same period last year there were 6,094 fraud and scam complaints.
Such crimes are becoming more complex and convincing, sometimes involving multiple banks, the Financial Ombudsman Service warned.
As work, study and family life gets busier after the summer, the Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign has urged people to stay alert to fraud.
In a survey of 3,000 UK adults, three in five (59%) said that they are concerned about falling victim to fraud, with almost a third of people (31%) seeing an attempted scam over the summer and one in eight people (12%) seeing two or more.
“We often hear from people embarrassed to have fallen victim to a fraud, but these crimes can be complex and incredibly convincing, and nobody should be afraid to come forward,” said Abby Thomas, chief executive and chief ombudsman of the Financial Ombudsman Service.
“In recent years, we have investigated thousands of cases, returning more than £150m to those who have fallen victim to these crimes.
“No matter how complex a case is, people can come with confidence to our free, independent service and we’ll investigate their complaint.”
