Regulator warns of financial scams

Post by Mearns & Company in News

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has stepped up efforts to curb misleading financial adverts and scam promotions, designed to persuade people to part with their money.

In total, the FCA shut down or ordered significant changes be made to more than 4,000 financial campaigns between July and September 2022; a record number of interventions. The regulator said it had seen a number of cases where unscrupulous firms were using the cost-of-living crisis to try to defraud people, and it said it was worried consumers could be tempted by high-risk unregulated products or become a target for scammers “preying on moments of vulnerability”.

The FCA also highlighted the growing issue of ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ promotions which were misleading about fees. It said it was increasingly targeting adverts appearing on social media and was working with tech companies to try to protect users from harm.