New ban on ‘utterly unacceptable’ pension scams

Anyone selling pension services will be committing an offence if they breach a new ban on cold calling announced by the Treasury. Unsolicited phone calls, text messages and emails relating to pensions will become a criminal offence as part of a government crackdown on fraudulent schemes. Alongside the ban, which will be enforced by the Information Commissioner’s Office, new laws will be introduced to ensure only legitimate pension schemes can register with HMRC. The announcement coincides with new figures showing almost £5 million was lost to pension scammers in the first five months of 2017. The Government estimates that criminals have already obtained £43 million through pension fraud since April 2014, with victims losing an average of £15,000 each. The Department for Work and Pensions was unable to give a date for when the ban will come into force. Stephen Barclay, economic secretary to the Treasury, said: “It’s utterly unacceptable that people who have worked all their lives to build up a pension pot should be subject to scams which may leave them out of pocket. “Pensions are often the most valuable asset a person has upon reaching retirement – and that’s why we are determined to crack down on scammers and protect our hardworking savers.”