Some 4,488 complaints about payment cons were received by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) from July to September. Of those, 2,243 came from people swindled into authorising a bank transfer by a criminal posing as a legitimate account holder. That is a 30 percent rise on the 1,725 received in the same period in 2020.

In the first half of 2021, £355million was lost to these so-called authorised push payments, overtaking losses linked to card fraud.The FOS said: “With the festive period approaching, it’s vital people are extra vigilant with their finances.”

A planned law change will let the FOS enforce repayments. Banks also face pressure to publish their records on settling up.