Fraudsters purporting to be from the Financial Ombudsman are asking victims to pay £150 to 'release' their redress

Households are being alerted to a new scam that involves fraudsters purporting to be from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). Scammers are reportedly calling households claiming to be from the FOS, which deals with complaints from consumers about the financial services industry, and telling the person on the phone that they need to pay £150 to “release” compensation for which they applied. The FOS said it would never "cold call" households and that the service was completely free, so it would never ask for money. It has said a customer had been in touch to warn of the scam. It advised anyone who had received a suspicious phone call to call it directly on 0300 123 9 123. The FOS is contacted by an average of 8,000 consumers a day. It has had a particularly high number of complaints around payment protection insurance. Millions have claimed to have been victims of mis-selling and are seeking compensation.....Read more here