How to be scam smart

What is a pension scam?

There are many different types of pension scam, but what they all have in common is that they are crimes, carried out by fraudsters who want to get their hands on your money. If you fall victim to a pension scam, your lifetime savings can be lost in minutes.

Pension scams have become one of the most prolific and fastest-growing types of theft in the UK. It’s an area that is a challenge for banks, police, regulators and trading standards as well as for consumers.

Pension scams are becoming more sophisticated

Scams are becoming increasingly hard to spot: fraudsters can be well-spoken and very knowledgeable about financial markets, meaning that they can look and sound very believable and professional.

When people think of pension scams, they might think of a door-to-door salesman offering dodgy deals, but pension scammers now have an increasingly large digital presence. They can have credible websites and internet reviews – but these are not always what they seem to be and are often fake.

To learn more about the number of ways scam artists will try and relieve you of your pension pot, read our How to spot a pension scam guide. The Pension's Regulator also has video case studies on their website which can help people to understand how to spot fraud and avoid pension scams.

What should you look out for?

We recommend that you should always exercise extreme caution if someone asks you to move your money. However, there are telltale signs of pension scams that you can look out for.

• You are being rushed into a decision or action. Your pension is a long-term investment and you should never make a hasty or short-term decision about it.
• You are offered unusual or high-risk investments, a guaranteed return or something you are not familiar with. If someone offers a free pension review or claims to be able to help you access your pension before the age of 55, the chances are that you should just hang up.
• You are approached out of the blue. If you have been contacted door-to-door, by telephone or by text message completely out of the blue, then you should be wary. Since January 2019, there has been a ban on cold calling about pensions, this means that unless you have requested it, you should not be contacted about your pension.
• They give you unclear contact details. If the only contact details you have been given are a website, mobile number or PO Box then you should proceed with caution. If you are given a physical address, search it online. You may find that it is a ‘virtual’ office address, another favourite tactic of fraudsters.

If you think you have been a victim of a pension scam, you should speak to your pension provider as soon as possible. If you act quickly, they may be able to prevent a transfer of your money.  You can also report a suspected pension scam to Action Fraud.

If you’d like to learn more, take a look at the FCA’s warning list of well-known pension scams.

Introducing Scam Man & Robbin’

Making it easier for people to protect their friends and family from pension scams was the reason behind Pension Bee’s recent hackathon. We were delighted to work with them and to play our part in finding an innovative and educational way to get the message about pensions scams across.

We are proud to have been part of the winning team that created Scam Man & Robbin’. This is a fun game, designed to make a genuine difference to the way people think about fraud, and you can share it with your own friends and family. Hopefully it will help both you and them to recognise the different types of pension scam and how to avoid them.

Play Scam Man & Robbin’

You can also test your knowledge on how to identify pension scams by having a go at the FCA’s pension scam quiz.