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Financial Conduct Authority
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority amended or withdrew 4,151 financial promotions between July and September, the highest number since it started publishing the data – a sign of the watchdog's determination to slap down misleading advertisements.  

Retail lending, investments and banking are the sectors with the highest rate of amendments to or withdrawal of adverts, amounting to 95 per cent of the FCA’s interventions with authorised firms, the regulator said in a statement late last week. 

The FCA highlighted that it had seen several cases involving unauthorised firms and individuals seeking to take advantage of the rising cost of living. During the period, the FCA issued 303 warnings about unauthorised firms and individuals, with over 20 per cent being about clone scams.

The data also detailed various actions taken by the watchdog to curb misleading and unfair behaviour by firms as well as tackling scammers. For example, the FCA’s intervention resulted in 66 Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) promotions from one firm across various social media platforms being amended or withdrawn. It said the adverts did not give fair or prominent risk warnings and were misleading about fees. Although the FCA does not yet regulate BNPL, it has already warned BNPL firms about misleading promotions earlier this year.   

The FCA has also written to consumers who were included in a mailing list being used by scammers to carry out “loan fee” or “advance fee” fraud. With this type of scam becoming more common as the cost of living rises, over the summer the FCA relaunched its ScamSmart campaign aimed at preventing loan fee fraud to help raise awareness among borrowers who might be vulnerable.   

“As consumers feel the financial squeeze, they could be tempted by high-risk, unregulated products and services or they could become a target for scammers preying on moments of vulnerability,” Mark Steward, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said.  

“As a result, we’re doing even more to tackle false claims in adverts, issue prompt warnings to consumers, and we continue to engage with the largest tech and social media platforms as they also play an important part in protecting consumers from online harm. This is why changes to the Online Safety Bill to cover paid-for financial services advertising online are very much needed right now,” he added.