Financial Services Complaints Limited (FSCL), a free
financial Ombudsman service, is warning consumers to be
vigilant when it comes to fraud, following a noticeable
increase in complaints around financial scams over the past
year.

“From fraudulent transactions on
travel cards , to merchants losing money when a consumer
asked for a chargeback
after receiving goods , we have seen a wide range of
sophisticated incidents of fraud this year,” explains FSCL
Financial Ombudsman and CEO, Susan Taylor.

“Perhaps
the most notable financial product we are seeing more
fraudulent activity is with online investment companies,
often involving ‘bitcoin’ scams.

Investment
scam

One case, highlighted in FSCL’s
annual report this year saw a woman lose $50,000 after
scammers replicated the website of a reputable investment
company.

Unfortunately, once Maria realised that she
had been scammed, it was impossible for the money transfer
company to reverse the transaction, as the scammers had
closed their bank account.

“As with most of these
scams, Maria had been lulled into a false sense of security,
as she initially saw a return on her original investment.
Consumers should be alert to the possibility of scams when
deciding to invest online. It is a fairly common scam method
to tempt someone to invest more money after initially
providing a good return. When…