We do our best to make our members aware of pension scams.

Pension scams can come in different forms, from scams to trick you into transferring your pension savings into fake schemes, to phishing to get hold of your personal details.

Below are examples of pension scam tactics that might mean you’re dealing with a fraudster:

• Contacting you out of the blue
• Offering free pension reviews and one-off investment opportunities with ‘guaranteed returns’
• Offering you cash upfront
• Offering a quick transfer of money over to the new scheme
• Claiming you can access your pension pot before your normal minimum pension age
• Providing no documents to confirm the business you’re transacting with

It’s good to note that a professional looking website and convincing marketing material doesn’t necessarily mean the person you’re dealing with isn’t a fraudster.

Fraudsters may try to get your details by email, letters through the post, instant or text messages and cold calls.

Ban on cold calls

To help prevent pension savers from falling victim to pension scams, the government has passed a ‘pensions cold-calling ban’ to ensure any company that attempts to make unsolicited calls about your pension could be fined.

We support the government in helping savers avoid pension scams by making you aware of pension scams in our communications and pointing you in the direction of further help from government-backed bodies.

Who to contact if you’re worried about pension scams

You can ask Citizens Advice, the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) or the police for help and advice about scammers.

If you’ve already been approached and signed a contract, contact your provider immediately and call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.

You can learn more about how to avoid pension scams on our website.

Or you can also find out more about how to protect yourself from pension scams on The Pensions Regulator’s website.