The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is asking consumers to be further vigilant of fraudsters impersonating the regulator, after it revealed it had acquired virtually 5,000 faux FCA rip-off stories within the first half of 2025.
Scammers steal cash by persuading folks at hand over funds or private data, equivalent to checking account PINs and passwords.
There have been 4,465 stories of pretend FCA scams to the regulator’s shopper helpline thus far this yr, with 480 victims tricked into sending cash to the fraudster.
Almost two-thirds of stories got here from folks 56 years previous or above.
One widespread rip-off technique is fraudsters claiming that the FCA has recovered funds from a crypto pockets that was opened illegally within the particular person’s title.
Another is to focus on mortgage rip-off victims and declare the FCA may also help them get better the cash they’ve misplaced. The particular person is then persuaded at hand over additional funds.
In different situations, consumers obtain and e mail informing them their collectors have taken out a County Court Judgement towards them and so they should pay the FCA the quantity owed.
Commenting on the growing prevalence of monetary scams AJ Bell senior pensions and financial savings professional Charlene Young mentioned: “This new warning from the FCA makes for grim studying, as monetary scammers are actually impersonating the regulator itself. The figures characterize the entire variety of stories to the FCA the place folks realise they’ve been focused and are keen to make a report. However, the true quantity of victims and makes an attempt will probably be a lot greater.
She identified that essentially the most susceptible folks proceed to be those that are most actively focused. “We noticed monetary vulnerability significantly uncovered by fraudsters through the worst of the Covid pandemic, and the cost-of-living disaster that adopted it.
“While folks of all ages can fall sufferer to scammers, those that are capable of entry their retirement pot – probably the largest asset they personal – will inevitably be a chief goal,” Young mentioned.
