Financial Ombudsman Service warns people to be on high alert for online investment and employment scams

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) said it received around 31,300 complaints about fraud and scams between January and December 2025, and on 19 February 2026 urged people to remain vigilant about online investment and employment scams¹.

Within that total, around 20,000 complaints came from people who had authorised a payment as part of a scam. This covers authorised push payment (APP) scams, where money is transferred directly from a bank account, and cases where a consumer inadvertently used a debit or credit card to pay a fraudster. In both situations the payment is treated as authorised by the financial provider¹. The FOS said that, anecdotally, over half of the 20,000 authorised payment scam complaints relate to online investment scams, which often begin with adverts on social media or search engines promoting "high-return" opportunities, frequently linked to cryptocurrency¹.

The service said online investment scams are by far the most complained about scam type it sees, followed by employment scams. In job scams, fraudsters advertise flexible, high-paying work online and victims are typically asked to pay upfront fees, often in cryptocurrency, to unlock wages, commission or earnings that never materialise¹. Other cases in its caseload include complaints from people disputing transactions they do not recognise, and from people unhappy that a CIFAS marker has been placed on their credit file¹.

Patrick Hurley, Ombudsman Director, said:

The FOS also said: "We are urging people to remain vigilant for scams, as fraudsters increasingly target those looking to improve their financial situation through online opportunities."¹

The FOS describes itself as an independent dispute resolution service for complaints between regulated financial firms and consumers, free for consumers to use¹. Its published guidance includes checking the FCA's Firm Checker before investing or making payments, being cautious about social media adverts using fake celebrity endorsements, and verifying recruitment company details through the genuine company's website¹. The FOS said all data in the release has been rounded to the nearest 100¹.

Why it matters for households

The figures cover complaints made to the ombudsman, not the total number of scams committed, so they show the scale of disputes reaching the service rather than the full picture. The roughly 20,000 authorised payment cases matter because, in these situations, the payment is treated as authorised by the provider, and the FOS then considers whether a bank should have done more to protect its customer and whether the consumer did enough to protect themselves¹.

Reimbursement for APP scam victims is governed by rules the Payment Systems Regulator introduced in October 2024, which the FOS says should speed up the time it takes to be reimbursed by payment providers. Those rules put the onus on financial providers to reimburse customers who are victims of some APP scams, unless the customer has been grossly negligent¹. The maximum refund available under the APP reimbursement arrangements is set out in our guide to the maximum refund for authorised push payment fraud.

Anyone who has lost money this way can complain to their provider first and then take the case to the ombudsman; our guides explain how to spot a scam, how fake job offers and payments through your account work, and taking a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, including the time limits and how much compensation the ombudsman can award.

What happens next

The FOS has not announced any further steps in the release beyond its call for vigilance and its existing complaint-handling role¹. The PSR's reimbursement rules took effect in October 2024 and remain in force¹.