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Persuading you to transfer your pension pot<\/strong> Scammers also design attractive offers to persuade you to transfer your pension pot to them (or to release funds from it). It is then often invested in unusual and high-risk investments like overseas property, renewable energy bonds, forestry, storage units; or, invested in more conventional products but within an unnecessarily complex structure which hides multiple fees and high charges; or stolen outright.<\/p>\n Fraudsters look to exploit people\u2019s anxieties and fears<\/strong> Cold calls about your pension \u2013<\/strong> it is illegal for firms to contact you out of the blue about your pension, and you should hang up. The\u00a0caller may offer to help you access your pension before age 55, or offer you a \u2018free pensions review\u2019. What\u00a0should\u00a0I look out for?<\/strong><\/p>\n Be suspicious of offers that seem too good to be true<\/p>\n Do not feel pressured or agree to offers or deals on insurance, pensions or investments<\/p>\n Check the credentials of the person you are dealing with by getting a name and contact details. You can check the financial service\u00a0register to make sure you are dealing with a regulated company. Hang up and call them back on details you can verify<\/p>\n Never give your personal details out, such as an insurance or pensions policy number or other account details<\/p>\n Always use contact details on your documents provided by your insurer or pension provider<\/p>\n Don\u2019t assume all online sites are genuine\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Safeguard your hard-earned retirement savings from COVID-19 scammers Fraudsters are exploiting fears over the COVID-19 pandemic to target pension savers and investors. The Pensions Regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Money and Pensions Service have issued a joint statement urging people not to make rash pension decisions in the wake of the global… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wattersonfp.co.uk\/financialnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3063"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wattersonfp.co.uk\/financialnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wattersonfp.co.uk\/financialnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wattersonfp.co.uk\/financialnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wattersonfp.co.uk\/financialnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wattersonfp.co.uk\/financialnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3063\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wattersonfp.co.uk\/financialnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wattersonfp.co.uk\/financialnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wattersonfp.co.uk\/financialnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nScammers will make false claims to gain your trust \u2013 for example, claiming they are authorised by the FCA or that they don\u2019t have to be FCA-authorised because they aren\u2019t providing the advice themselves, or claiming to be acting on the behalf of the FCA or the government service Pension Wise.<\/p>\n
\nAttempts to scam personal data and monies are likely to increase during the COVID-19 pandemic\u00a0and economic downturn as fraudsters look to exploit people\u2019s anxieties and fears. You need to be aware of receiving emails, calls or texts from criminals impersonating investment companies, insurers, pensions providers and other organisations to trick you into providing personal or financial information or money.<\/p>\n
\nPhishing emails \u2013<\/strong> these attempt to trick people into opening malicious attachments or reveal personal or financial information.
\nGhost brokers \u2013<\/strong> fraudsters may attempt to use an insurer\u2019s branding to promote and sell fake or invalid pension or investment products\u00a0which may claim to offer COVID-19 protection.<\/p>\n