Over a quarter of UK adults, 26 per cent, have been approached about their pension by telephone, email or in the post in the last six months, Phoenix Group has revealed.

The survey follows a consultation by the government on how to tackle pension scams as Chancellor Philip Hammond announced in the Budget last autumn that he would ban pensions cold calling, as a result of industry pressure.

Over 2,000 adults were surveyed for the research which found 59 per cent were approached by a telephone call, 25 per cent via email and 20 per cent via a letter, with some receiving more than one form of communication.

Moreover, three fifths (61 per cent) said they would not report pensions cold calls, primarily because they did not know they could.

As a result of this communication, 7 per cent have released some or all of their pension as cash.

Commenting on the results, Phoenix intelligence and investigations manager Philip Kline said: “Fraudsters use a myriad of methods to reach and trick their victims, including face to face contact, online marketing, texting, social media and email. To properly tackle this and significantly reduce the amount of pensions-related fraud, Phoenix believes that the government’s proposal to ban pension cold calling should be extended to include all forms of electronic communications such as email and text messaging.

“Fraud is growing in the pension industry and fraudsters’ methods are constantly evolving to take advantage of the new freedoms and economic trends to target pension savers. Phoenix further argues that reporting fraud needs to be simple, quick and easy, and that consumers should be given greater education on the risks of fraud to ensure that they are able to better protect themselves.”

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