Scandal of cold- calling fraudsters
FRAUDSTERS are targeting older workers in a bid to cheat them out of their retirement savings, according to experts.
People over 55 years old are being bombarded with cold calls and emails offering bogus opportunities to increase their income in the wake of new pension freedoms, Citizens Advice warned.
It said two in five members of its staff working on the Government’s new Pension Wise guidance service had seen people repeatedly targeted with pension scams.
A further one in 10 had seen people who had either responded to or fallen prey to a scam.
Half of the group’s pension staff said the investment scams were targeting the cash lump sums people can release from their pension pots.
A further third of staff from across the service thought that scams targeting the over- 55s had increased.
Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: “Opportunistic fraudsters are finding new ways to go after people’s pension pots including offering free pension reviews and promising to invest in funds that don’t necessarily exist.
“Pension and investment scams are particularly dangerous as they can destroy people’s entire pension pot, leaving them with little or no savings for retirement.”
Pensions Minister Baroness Ros Altmann urged people not to “fall foul of conmen who want to snatch your money”. Pension scams are on the rise says Ros Altmann, right She said: “If you receive emails, or junk mail with promises of getrich- quick schemes, chuck them in the bin.
“And if you get cold- called by someone offering a pension review or help to trace a lost pension, hang up because the chances are it’s a scam.”
Pension Wise is a free service offered to help people decide what to do with their money in the light of the new flexibilities, which mean that people are no longer required to buy an annuity when they retire.
Citizens Advice offers face- to- face guidance as part of the Pension Wise service and is monitoring a series of emerging scams.
Access
These include fraudsters offering a generous rate of return on a financial product or the offer of a free pension review. This involves the conman visiting the person in their own home, bringing paperwork that would allow them to get access to their pension details. Another fraud sees people approached with offers to invest their pension cash in products such as property overseas or fine wines.
The research, carried out in June, surveyed 468 Citizens Advice staff across England and Wales, comprising 283 managers, staff and volunteers and 185 Pension Wise staff.