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Reward and Benefits

Pension Scams

Scammers can be articulate and seem financially knowledgeable, with credible websites and testimonials that can seem difficult to distinguish from the real thing. Scammers design attractive offers to persuade you to transfer your pension pots to them. It is then often invested in unusual and high-risk investments or simply stolen. You should note that only in very rare circumstances, such as incapacity can you access pension funds before age 55 so if a website is promising easy access, be very wary! In most cases, promises of early cash are likely to be bogus and can result in serious tax consequences for you.

You should know that the government has introduced new regulations which require pension schemes and their administrators to follow certain procedures before sanctioning a transfer payment. The Trustees can refuse to make a payment if they believe that it would be unsafe to do so, i.e. have reason to believe that it could relate to a scam. At the same time this should not distract the member from carrying out their own due diligence by following the guidance shown below:

  1. If you need any information about your pension, please contact us direct.
  2. Remember we can only provide information, but we can’t give advice. If you need to take advice, please find a suitable independent financial adviser. The Financial Conduct Authority FCA website provides lots of helpful information.

The first link below provides you with a means of checking that the financial adviser is authorised.

  •  Register Home Page - Only use the contact details provided on the register to help prevent picking up bogus contact details from criminals that are cloning genuine sites

3.The Pensions Regulator has set out some simple advice as to how to avoid scams. You may find this leaflet useful.

4. Scams continue to pose an increasing threat to your retirement benefits. The Pensions Regulator has joined forces with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in producing a TV advert to renew the awareness campaign. If you have not yet seen it, you can watch it online. Please click the following link to see the Scamsmart YouTube videos.

5. If you think you may be a victim of a pension scam, contact Action Fraud immediately. Phone 0300 123 2040 or go to their website

www.actionfraud.police.uk and fill in an online fraud report.