warning! fraudulent emails claiming to be from the ombudsman ...
11 August 2010
Fraudulent emails that claim to come from the Financial Ombudsman Service are currently in circulation.
These spoof emails sometimes contain images taken from our website – such as our logo and other illustrations. They may request that you provide your bank account details and copies of personal documentation, for example payslips or your passport. But clues that the emails are not genuine may include:
- mobile or overseas contact phone number
- an unlikely-looking email address (such as a hotmail or gmail account) or
- a foreign PO Box number overtyped onto spoof versions of our website.
If you get an email that says it’s from us but that seems a bit suspicious and you want to check it out – please call us on 0300 123 9 123.
To help protect yourself generally from fraudulent emails – you should:
- never respond to a message that appears suspicious
- never provide personal details – such as your address, phone number etc unless you’re absolutely certain the request is genuine
- never provide any of your banking or credit card details unless you’re absolutely certain the request is genuine; and
- never give anyone your security information, such as your internet/telephone banking password or logon details. No genuine banking firm ever asks you to provide this information.
You should also:
- install anti-virus software and keep it up-to-date
- install personal firewall software.
media enquiries
- press office – 020 7964 1234
- out of hours – phone 0771 8658 306
