Should I trust these people?

caramacgirl

I was called on my mobile by a guy offering to look into my pension situation and advise if I could do anything to improve it, free of charge.
I am a bit dubious as both times they have called they have withheld their number.
How can I be sure they are a ligitimate company before arranging a meeting?
Could this be some sort of scam?

Pollycat

I wouldn't trust ANY unsolicited calls from ANY company selling ANY service - free or otherwise.
What I'd be asking myself (based on the premise that 'you don't get owt for nowt') is "if this service is free, how do they get paid?".
Did this guy say what company he was working for/representing?

There's some really good people who post on here, if you explain your situation they could maybe give you free advice to start with, and if you then feel you need more advice, you could go to a IFA of YOUR choice.

dunstonh

General rule of thumb is that you should never act on cold calls. No genuine or professional investment firm will cold call you. Most scams come from cold calling. So, if you avoid acting on cold calls then you will avoid most scams. If you want your pension looked at then get a local IFA to do it.

Loughton_Monkey

Nobody (you don't know) phoning you on your mobile about pension provision or investment of any kind should never be trusted. End of.....

thenudeone

Reminds me of a scam (or possibly just a story of a scam) from many years ago.
Company targeted lower income workers / ex-workers offering to "cash in" their pension. Arranged to transfer their pensions into a new scheme they had set up; took a large cut then paid the rest directly to the scheme members, which is exactly what they wanted so no-one complained.
Scammers scarpered, scheme eventually folded, leaving workers to repay a huge penalty to hmrc for massive breach of hmrc pension scheme regulations, once it was all unravelled, leaving them with no new assets and now no pension either!

Unfortunately there will always be people wanting to part you from your hard-earned cash in some immensely devious and clever ways. Just say no.