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MSE News: Pensions cold calling ban proposed by Government

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  • Malthusian
    Malthusian Posts: 11,055 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    robber2 wrote: »
    " Good morning Mrs Jones, yes I know about the ban on cold calling and what a good idea it is, this is not that kind of call. I'm speaking to you specially from.....[ your Bank, Help the aged, Citizens Advice, Prudential, etc.....]

    What you're describing is phishing, a completely different type of scam and one that's already illegal.

    The kind of scam that this ban is aimed at is the "Hi, I'm from SuperFirst Investments and we've got some fabulous investments in Cape Verde car parks that pay 8% guaranteed per annum". They don't pretend to be someone they're not, there's no need and there's too much chance of being rumbled.

    The proposed measure is good and long overdue but doesn't go far enough. What needs to be done is

    1) All cold calling should be banned, from any company for any reason.

    2) The selling of personal details to third parties, where not for the purposes of an existing business relationship, should be banned.

    3) An amnesty should be declared such that all opt-outs and opt-ins and tiny checkboxes and all other BS before the date of the legislation are invalid.

    This wouldn't eliminate cold-calling and spam but it would go a hell of a long way. It is a myth encouraged by scammers that all of it comes from India and Nigeria and there's no point legislating against it. The scattergun email and phishing scams come from overseas but the more targeted investment and pension scams typically originate in the good ol' UK in places like Bromley.
  • Silvertabby
    Silvertabby Posts: 10,123 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Eighth Anniversary Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 22 November 2016 at 2:05PM
    PensionTech - tell me about it!

    Even before the pension freedoms, the LGPS dealt with numerous applications to transfer benefits to 'better schemes' The applications for transfers to non HMRC approved schemes were easily dealt with - the rules say NO' - but that didn't stop the complaints.

    One case that dragged on seemingly for ever was a lady who wanted to transfer her substantial preserved benefits to a hardwood (teak, I think) plantation scheme in South America. She was in her mid 50s, but was adamant that she was guaranteed to at least treble her investment. Yes, she'd done her research, yes, it was kosher, yes she did want to go ahead with the transfer - and she would sue us for the 'theft' of the 300% increase in the value benefits if we didn't agree to the transfer.

    As you know, LGPS administrators aren't allowed to give advice so I had to be careful in what I said. However, I think I finally got through to her during one of her telephone rants by googling the plantations web-site (yes, it did look good!) and asking her to confirm that her 'investment' would be used to buy and plant teak saplings (1 year old plants). She agreed that was the case. I then asked google how long it would take a teak sapling to grow to maturity. At least 50 years. I asked the lady if she was willing to wait that long before drawing her benefits and, funny old thing, she withdrew her transfer request.
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