“The Government’s proposed ban on pension cold calling should be extended to include other forms of investments as they are all potentially fraudulent.
“Most attempted pension scams involved some form of alleged investment opportunity but, as the figures reported in the Sunday Times and attributed to the City of London police revealed, in any event pensions represented only about a quarter of the money lost to this type of fraud in 2015/16 (Pension scams £18.7m, all investment scams £75.9m).
“I have been the target of an unsuccessful attempted pension liberation scam, and urge all members of the public whatever your situation to put the phone down on any unsolicited call offering any sort of investment opportunity. No matter how credible or tempting it may sound.
“Even then it is far from certain that the official ban will deter the fraudsters from making these types of calls. They are criminals after all and hold no respect for the law. They are simply after your money and seem to be becoming increasingly sophisticated in the methods they use to achieve this end.
“At the end of the day the authorities will do all they can to help but I suspect it will still mainly be down to individuals to protect themselves to the best of their ability and decline to engage with cold callers or other unsolicited e-mails or texts in all circumstances and at all times.”
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