Many cold calls originate from overseas, which can be difficult to track down. If you get a cold call about your pension, just put the phone down, don’t engage, and try to block the caller’s number if possible, or look at installing call blocker technology.
Fraudsters may try to tempt you in by offering free pension reviews. This is a trick to get you to share personal information.
Another tactic is to encourage you to transfer your pension to another scheme, promising guaranteed returns with little risk, possibly investing in exotic sounding but unregulated assets such as carbon credits, storage pods or overseas holiday accommodation.
Low risk, high return investments productivity tracking software tend to be a myth. And no legitimate company will force you into making an immediate decision.
Fraudsters may offer to help you access or unlock your pension before age 55. I explain why this is a bad idea here.
One trend we’re seeing is fraudsters trying to take advantage of more people being at home due to the pandemic and surfing the internet for pensions information. An increasing number of fake websites are being set up that are purely designed to entice savers to access their pensions both before and after age 55. These websites can look convincing so make sure that any sites you visit for are secure and are the genuine websites of authorised providers.
As scams evolve, stay informed
The Financial Conduct Authority has a long-running campaign, called ScamSmart which is very useful for keeping up to date on what to look out for, as the methods used by scammers are constantly evolving.