More must be done to tackle pensions fraud

Urgent and decisive action must be taken to stop scammers stealing the life savings of people from Sussex and across the UK.

As the Coronavirus pandemic continues to cause a rise in pension scams, joint research from The People’s Pension and The Police Foundation has found that from 13 pension providers alone, almost a thousand customers with combined savings of £54 million were targeted by scammers last year.

While pension providers can flag potential scams to customers, neither they nor the regulator are able to stop transfers; a key reason why two thirds of the customers still transferred £31 million worth of funds despite the flagged risk. Victims are also left liable for tax penalties on their lost savings.

We’re calling on the Government to protect pension savers in Sussex by providing pension companies and regulators with the power to stop a transfer if a scam is suspected and preventing victims of pension fraud from being hit with unfair tax bills.

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