Fraud complaints 'explode' in growth since 2022

There has been an "explosive growth" in the number of cases of fraud reported to the Channel Islands' financial complaints service.

The Channel Islands Financial Ombudsman's (CIFO) annual report said it opened 364 cases relating to complaints made by people in Jersey and Guernsey in 2024.

Of those cases 65 were "fraud and scam-related", up from just five in 2022, an increase of 1,200%.

The CIFO describes itself as an independent service which resolves complaints between people and their financial service providers, such as banks, investment firms, and insurance companies.

"Arguably the largest was the explosive growth in the number of complaints involving losses due to fraud", said Douglas Melville, the principal ombudsman.

"The nature of fraud complaints demonstrates a variety of underlying types of attack and systemic issues that raise significant questions for industry, regulators, dispute resolution bodies like CIFO, and the general public."

Complainants from Jersey and Guernsey also submitted 120 complaints about their financial services showing "poor administration or slow delay".

The report added: "These issues can be attributed to various underlying factors such as lack of sufficient 24/7 staff coverage.

"[And] the inability for complainants to reach a live customer service person to communicate issues to their banks on a timely basis."

There were 364 cases opened in 2024, 340 were closed.

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