Dosh dilemma: Jon narrowly dodges a car finance scam

Jon had used car finance for years, so when he got a call saying he was owed compensation, he was intrigued.

He’d just seen a news story about UK drivers being in line for payouts over car finance mis-selling, so it all seemed to add up.

But this ‘good news’ was actually a scam.

What happened?

A man called Jon, claiming to work for a car finance company. He sounded professional and said Jon had been mis-sold a loan and was due money.

To ‘process the claim,’ he asked for Jon’s:

• full name
• address
• date of birth
• bank details

Jon almost went along with it, until he suspected something wasn’t right.

The caller didn’t even know Jon’s last name and then came the request for his bank details.

That was the final red flag.

Jon hung up immediately. Luckily, he dodged the scam just in time and now he wants to warn others.

Here’s what you need to know

According to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA):

• There is no official car finance compensation scheme in place yet.
• Lenders are not contacting customers about compensation right now.
• If you get a call or text like this, it’s a scam.

How to protect yourself

If someone calls you out of the blue about compensation:

• Hang up immediately and don’t share any information.
• Report scam calls and texts to Ofcom by forwarding them to 7726. More information on how to do this is available on Ofcom’s website.

How to stay scam-smart

Here are three simple steps to take to protect yourself from scams:

1. Stop - pause before clicking, replying or giving out information.
2. Challenge - ask yourself - does this feel right? Real companies won’t mind if you double-check.
3. Protect - if you think you've been scammed: Contact your bank straight away and report it to Action Fraud.

You can find more information and ways to spot a scam here: How to outsmart online scammers and Top scams to watch out for in 2025.