A freedom of information (FOI) request has revealed that 1,595 pension scams were reported between 2020 and 2022.
The Pensions Management Institute (PMI) said the pensions scams cost a total of £26,420,172, an average loss of approximately £16,500.
Robert Wakefield, PMI president, said: “These statistics show that in spite of the best efforts of those managing our pension schemes, the scourge of scams continues to ruin the lives of so many people. The sheer scale of pension scams – in terms of both the number of cases and the amount of money involved – is truly horrifying.”
The data was unveiled following a Freedom of Information application to the City of London Police’s National Fraud Intelligence Bureau.
Pensions Awareness week
The 1,595 reported cases were split between 400 examples of scams made on members, 1,185 cases of pensions liberation fraud and 10 cases of pension fraud by pensioners.
As part of Pension Awareness week, culminating in Pensions Awareness day this Friday, the PMI is now encouraging schemes and members to remain alert to potential scams.
Wakefield said the cost of living crisis means more pension scheme members may be interested in accessing their savings early, which could leave these members vulnerable to scams.
He added: “Clearly the cost of living crisis has made many people desperate for cash to meet short-term requirements and it is sobering to note that so many have been prepared to access pension savings early at the cost of longer-term security.
“Tragically, it is also very clear that in spite of tight regulatory constraints scammers remain able to deceive members in order to steal their accrued pension savings. The clear lesson for us all is that extreme vigilance remains essential. This problem will never go away, but we must redouble our efforts to keep it to a minimum.”
Read more:Stop blaming victims for pensions scams and fix the system to expose them
factbox
Why are pension scams on the increase?
The number of people being approached unsolicited about transferring their pension increased in the second quarter of the year by five per cent, a rise attributed to the cost of living crisis.
Between April and June, 1,685 pension scam assessments were completed using helpandadvice.co.uk's MoneyHelper flagged scam predictor tool.
A quarter of those approached were asked to make a quick decision on whether to transfer, up significantly from 15 per cent in the previous quarter.
The average scam likelihood score was 23 per cent, meaning that of the 1685 people that completed the assessment, almost a quarter of cases had associated red flags, a red flag means further investigation is needed.
Having tracked the data for over a year, helpandadvice.co.uk said the potential likelihood of a scam consistently remained at around 25 per cent.
