Chief ombudsman Caroline Wayman said everyone had a role to play in tackling scams.
In the latest version of Ombudsman News, Ms Wayman said: “From our conversations with financial businesses, we know that protecting customers is high on their agenda.
“But in the face of ever-more sophisticated crime, what else can be done? Like so many other financial problems, awareness plays a huge role in prevention. So to me, it’s essential that everyone with an insight, shares that insight.”
Ms Wayman said that in dealing with large volumes of complaints and concerns, the Fos can see the bigger picture and identify worrying patterns and trends.
Mark Steward, the Financial Conduct Authority’s director of enforcement and market oversight, agreed that cooperation is important.
He said: “Only a limited number of investment frauds will fall within our remit, so effective coordination with other agencies and a continued focus on prevention, including better consumer education, is critical to achieving long-term success in this area.
“We continue to coordinate our efforts across our supervisory, intelligence and enforcement functions in our work on scams and, in particular, those that are targeted at consumers’ pensions.”
To illustrate its point, the Fos listed a number of recent relevant cases, including one against Positive Solutions.
It was lodged by a couple whose email account was hacked and fraudsters posing as them told their adviser to arrange a £250,000 withdrawal from an investment bond they had.
The adviser contacted Zurich to request the withdrawal which was then finalised.
When it became clear the withdrawal was a fraud, the police became involved at £185,000 was recovered, but the couple complained the adviser didn’t take enough care.
Ombudsman Jim Biles agreed and told Positive Solutions to pay the amount required to restore the bond to the exact position it would now be in if the money that wasn’t recovered hadn’t been withdrawn.
Fos said that thanks to new technology and increased awareness, some scams were becoming less common, but others were continuing to develop.
Last year, the FCA received more than 8,500 reports about potential unauthorised activity.
As a result of its actions, eight people were sent to jail for a total of 32 years, more than £2.7m was frozen, nearly £1.9m was returned to victims and public warnings about 250 unauthorised firms were issued.
Michael Ingram, senior ombudsman at the Fos, explained many scammers are successful because the victim is made to believe something’s gone wrong - and things are out of control - and they’re then told they can do something about it, to regain control.
“For example, the fraudster might say there’s a security problem with someone’s account - and persuade them to send their money to a ‘safe’ account - which is of course anything but safe.”
