In line with our current Complaints Scheme, a complaint is defined as 'an expression of dissatisfaction about the manner in which the regulators have carried out, or failed to carry out, their ‘relevant functions’. For more information about this, please refer to this link: Complaints against the regulators.
The FCA does not have the powers to adjudicate individual complaints made against the firms it regulates: such adjudication powers sit with the Financial Ombudsman Service ('the Financial Ombudsman'). Therefore, any complainants or enquirers expressing dissatisfaction about specific firms or individuals within the financial services sector would generally be referred to the Financial Ombudsman. You may find it helpful to visit their website here for more information on this.
While we log all instances when consumers call into our Supervision Hub, these would be recorded in our systems as contact records rather than ‘complaints’. Please also note, when recording a consumer contact reporting a scam allegation, these are categorised as ‘scams’ rather than ‘frauds’.
We have searched our records and identified 40,075 contacts containing the keyword ‘scam’ from 2024. Of these, 14,416 indicated that money was invested.
We also identified 27,959 contacts that contain the keyword ‘scam’ from 2025. Of these, 10,312 indicated that money was invested.
Please see below for a breakdown of the types of scams reported to us in 2024 and 2025, and the number of contacts received for each.
2024
| Type of Scam | Frequency |
|---|
| FCA Scam | 10,379 |
| Cryptocurrencies (Scams) | 6,739 |
| Recovery Room Crypto | 3,825 |
| Out of remit/Unregulated | 3,468 |
| Online trading platforms | 2,823 |
| Boiler Rooms | 2,056 |
| Recovery Room (Non-Shares) | 1,679 |
| Phishing | 1,576 |
| Share fraud | 982 |
| Loan Fee Fraud | 902 |
| Linked to Existing Case | 829 |
| Forex | 794 |
| Employment | 592 |
| Foreign Currency Exchange (Scams) | 579 |
| Banking | 574 |
| Null | 510 |
| CFDs | 379 |
| Push Payment Scam | 257 |
| Commodities | 215 |
| Insurance | 192 |
| Recovery Room (Shares) | 148 |
| Payment Services | 141 |
| Identity fraud | 70 |
| Inheritance | 55 |
| Pyramid Scheme | 53 |
| Timeshare | 44 |
| Carbon Credits | 42 |
| Pension Transfers | 39 |
| Land Banking | 35 |
| Pension Review Scam | 28 |
| Money Laundering | 22 |
| Lottery | 10 |
| Renewable Energy Contracts | 10 |
| Pension Liberation | 9 |
| Unregulated CIS | 9 |
| None | 6 |
| Satellite Warranties | 3 |
| Rare earth Minerals | 1 |
2025
| Type of Scam | Frequency |
|---|
| FCA impersonation | 7,383 |
| Cryptocurrency | 3,907 |
| Recovery room (crypto) | 3,314 |
| Online trading platforms | 2,987 |
| Out of remit/unregulated | 1,968 |
| Recovery room (non shares) | 1,281 |
| Boiler room | 976 |
| Phishing | 683 |
| Share fraud | 566 |
| Loan fee fraud | 565 |
| Forex | 542 |
| Employment | 512 |
| Linked to an existing case | 484 |
| Banking | 483 |
| Null | 339 |
| Foreign currency exchange | 322 |
| Consumer credit (scams) | 256 |
| CFDs | 285 |
| Claims management | 246 |
| Insurance | 182 |
| Commodities | 120 |
| Recovery room (shares) | 120 |
| Push payment | 114 |
| Payment services | 102 |
| Inheritance | 44 |
| Pyramid scheme | 34 |
| Land banking | 28 |
| Carbon credits | 24 |
| Money laundering | 23 |
| Pension transfers | 22 |
| Timeshare | 18 |
| Pension review | 14 |
| Renewable energy contracts | 5 |
| Pension liberation | 3 |
| Rare earth minerals | 2 |
| None | 5 |
