FOS finds against adviser for failing to detect fraud

'Alarm bells should have started ringing', FOS said

Tom Ellis
clock • 3 min read

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has ordered an adviser to pay out after it found he had failed to prevent an email fraud, which cost his client £250,000.

The client, called Ms Q by FOS, lost £250,000 of her bond savings after scammers hacked her email account and instructed her adviser to process the transfer. The woman had been alerted to the fraud by her investment bond provider, who had sent her a letter confirming the withdrawal. After reporting the fraud to the police, she was able to recover £170,000 of the total money lost but asked her adviser to make up the difference. The client took the case to the ombudsman after her adviser only agreed to pay 25% of the £80,000 she had lost. The scam The scam started when fraudster...

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