We read 17,000 scam complaints

The Financial Ombudsman is the free, independent referee between people and their banks. If you don’t think your bank has resolved your complaint fairly, you can ask the Ombudsman to decide.

Since 2020, 17,466 scam cases have gone all the way to a final decision by an ombudsman, each one a victim asking for money their bank wouldn’t give back. Every decision is published here.

We used AI to read every single one and pull out the details: the scam, the money and who won. Here’s what we found.

Rather than just give you the answers, I’ve turned this blog post into a quiz. Six questions: make your guess and see what the data says. Let’s go.