A total of £30,857,329 has been reportedly lost to pension scammers since 2017 according to complaints filed with Action Fraud, data from the FCA and The Pensions Regulator has revealed.

The regulators suggested that scammers have targeted pension pots of all sizes, with reported losses ranging from under £1,000 to as much as £500,000, and the average victim being a man in his 50s.

The true number of victims is likely to be much higher, however, with the FCA suggesting that savers often fail to spot the signs of a scam and don’t know how much is in their pots.

In February this year, the FCA highlighted data showing that almost £197m of investment scams were reported to Action Fraud in 2018 alone.

Commenting on the latest figures, FCA executive director of enforcement and market oversight, Mark Steward, said: “During these uncertain times, it is more important than ever to defend your lifetime savings from scammers. Fraudsters will seek out every opportunity to exploit innocent people, no matter how much or how little you have saved.

“You can check the status of a firm before changing your pension by visiting the FCA register, and get advice from an FCA authorised firm before making any changes to your pension.”

AJ Bell senior analyst, Tom Selby, suggested that as the UK enters recession and millions face unemployment with the Government’s furlough scheme ending, fraudsters will “inevitably redouble efforts” to part savers from their pensions.

“Although around £30m worth of pension scams might have been reported to Action Fraud since 2017, in reality this will represent just the tip of the iceberg,” Selby commented.

“Scams in general tend to be underreported for a variety of reasons – including in some cases embarrassment on the victims’ part – while in recent years the target for scammers’ activity has increasingly focused on attempting to coerce people to transfer their pension into investment-based schemes.

“Scammers pray on vulnerability, which will inevitably rise during times of economic stress such as now. It is therefore more important than ever that savers are alive to the tell-tale signs of scams, including cold-calls out of the blue and high-pressure sales tactics. Social media is also increasingly a breeding ground for increasingly sophisticated and complex investment scams.”

Share Story: