Urgent action needed to stop pension scams after £31m lost – Yorkshire Post Letters

URGENT and decisive action must be taken to stop scammers stealing the life savings of people from Yorkshire 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 £54m 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 £31m 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 Yorkshire by providing pension companies and regulators with the power to stop a transfer if a scam is suspected, and also 
preventing victims of pension fraud from being hit with unfair tax bills.

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Thank you

James Mitchinson