Avoid Pension Scams with FCA Advice

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warn that scanners are targeting people’s pensions and offer advice on how to stay safe.

Scammers usually contact people out of the blue via phone, email or text, or even advertise online. Or they may be introduced to you by a friend or family member who is also unknowingly being scammed.

They may claim they are authorised by the FCA or that they don’t have to be FCA authorised because they aren’t providing the advice themselves. Some even claim to be acting on the behalf of the FCA or MoneyHelper’s Pension Wise.

The Warning Signs of Scams

  • free pension reviews
  • higher returns – guarantees they can get you better returns on your pension savings
  • help to release cash from your pension even though you’re under 55 (an offer to release funds before age 55 is highly likely to be a scam)
  • high-pressure sales tactics – the scammers may try to pressure you with ‘time-limited offers’ or even send a courier to your door to wait while you sign documents
  • unusual investments – which tend to be unregulated and high risk, and may be difficult to sell if you need access to your money
  • arrangements where there are several parties involved (some of which may be based overseas) all taking a fee, which means the total amount deducted from your pension is significant
  • long-term pension investments – which mean it could be several years before you realise something is wrong

How to protect yourself from pension scams

1. – Reject unexpected offers

If you get a cold call about your pension, the safest thing to do is to hang up – it’s illegal and probably a scam. Report pension cold calls to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

If you get unsolicited offers via email or text, you should simply ignore them.

Don’t be talked into something by someone you know, even a friend or family member. They could be getting scammed. Check everything yourself.

2. Check who you’re dealing with

Check our Financial Services Register to make sure that anyone offering you advice or other financial services is FCA authorised, and that they are permitted to provide you with those services.

If you need any help checking, call the Consumer Helpline on 0800 111 6768.

Check the FS Register

If you use an unauthorised firm, you won’t have access to the Financial Ombudsman Service or Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) so you’re unlikely to get your money back if things go wrong.

Check the directors’ names and whether the firm is registered with Companies House. Search the company name and the directors’ names online to see if others have posted any concerns.

You can also check the FCA Warning List to find out if there are any risks of a potential pension or investment opportunity. This will allow you to see if the firm is known to be operating without our authorisation.

3. Don’t be rushed or pressured

Take your time to make all the checks you need – even if this means turning down an ‘amazing deal’. Be wary of promised returns that sound too good to be true and don’t be rushed or pressured into making a decision.

4. Get impartial information or advice

You should seriously consider seeking financial guidance or advice before changing your pension arrangements.

  • MoneyHelper provides free independent and impartial information and guidance.
  • If you’re over 50 and have a defined contribution pension, MoneyHelper’s Pension Wise offers pre-booked appointments to talk through your retirement options.
  • You can also use a financial adviser to help you make the best decision for your own personal circumstances. If you do opt for an adviser, make sure they are regulated by the FCA and never take investment advice from the company that contacted you, as this may be part of the scam.

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.

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Common Twitter Scams

The most common Twitter scams are:-

1. Home Working

Lots of people would love to be able to work from home and get well paid, enabling them to organise their work life to fit in with other commitments. But the scammers know this and offer home working jobs which don’t exist. They make money by requiring an up-front payment for registration or postage or insurance or a subscription.

2. Pay for Followers

Many people want more twitter followers for their personal or business accounts and lots of scammers offer such a service. Some just take money and give nothing but others do provide more followers. However these turn out to be poor quality or fake followers that son disappear.

Plus, you put your Twitter reputation at risk and may end up banned by Twitter for engaging in spam exercises.

3. Fake Links

There are endless tweets exhorting you to click a link to see a life changing video or solve some problem in your life or win the lottery etc. Don’t click on a link unless you know what it’s for.  Many of these fake links are simply because the poster gets paid for each click but many are malicious.

4. The Twitter Phishing Scam

There are many tricks used in phishing tweets including fake sign-on pages, fake games and quizzes that ask for information that can be used by a scammer e.g. your mother’s maiden name, pet’s name, town of birth etc. Beware giving out any such personal information.

5. Other Money-making Scams

Scammers try to make money out of you.  Any public tweets you make become information for potential scams. e.g. you tweet about wanting to go a concert then get a direct message form someone offering tickets to the concert and a story as to why they are available to you cheaply as long as you respond quickly. SCAMS.

Do click on the Facebook or Twitter icons on top right to follow Fight Back Ninja.

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The Instagram Badge Scam

The social media network Instagram uses badges in Live feeds to allow people to effectively donate to an account but also as a means of verifying that an account is genuine.

To get a verification badge for your Instagram profile, simply got to your profile and select settings and request verification.

You have to supply copies of valid ID documents and your account can gain the verification mark.

The advantage of being verified by Instagram is really for celebrities and others who believe that other people may pretend to be them on Instagram.

However, scammers send out mass emails offering verification and this is a phishing scam.

If you click the link in the scam email it goes to a fake website pretending to be Instagram and they want you to key in personal information such as full name, date of birth, ID documentation etc.

That is so they can steal from you using that information or sell the information to identity thieves.

Some but not all of these scam emails come from @security.com which is not Instagram.

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.

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