warning! fraudulent emails claiming to be from the ombudsman service ...
18 January 2010
Fraudulent emails that claim to come from the Financial Ombudsman Service are currently circulating.
These spoof emails usually contain some images taken from our website – such as our logo and other illustrations. But clues that the emails are not genuine may include things such as:
- an overseas phone number
- an unlikely-looking email address (such as a hotmail 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
- David Cresswell – phone 020 7964 0134
- Emma Parker – phone 020 7964 0966
- out of hours – phone 0771 8658 306
