Unauthorised Digital Signature

Edlo1

Have spent over a year attempting to get justice due to Pension Advisor using requested digital signature for access to my Pension accounts only to sign Client Agreement, open SIPP Pension and start transfer of 6 Pension accounts without my knowledge or permission. Complained to company and to Ombudsman who backed up the Company despite SIPP Pension provider awarding costs for transfers and stating that it was due to the Pension being opened by Pension Advisor without Permission. I did agree to accept £250 that Ombudsman told Advisor they must pay, but still waiting for payment after the 28 days allowed. Only option now is the small claims court. Has fraudulent use of digital signatures happened to anybody else and if so did you take the company to the small claims court and win. Many thanks.

Marcon

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6660338/unauthorised-digital-signature

Which ombudsman?

squirrelpie

And which Pension Advisor?

leosayer

What claim do you intend to make to the small claims court?

If you want an opinion then it would help if you shared the ombudsman's ruling.

Marcon

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81929490#Comment_81929490

No need to 'share' anything - other than which ombudsman (and whether the award was made as a result of a determination by the Ombudsman, or whether it was agreed as a result of an Adjudicator's opinion). If the award is binding and enforceable by the courts, then that's all OP needs to know. Putting details of the ruling on a public forum like this may breach confidentiality.

born_again

 Putting details of the ruling on a public forum like this may breach confidentiality.

FOS posts their decisions here. So are already in the public domain

All Op would have to do is post ref number.

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decisions-case-studies/ombudsman-decisions

Marcon

But you don't know if it is a FOS ruling. It's just as likely to have come from the Pensions Ombudsman, given the nature of the complaint.

If OP made their complaint to the PO and used their ERS, those findings aren't published - and only some of the adjudicator's opinions are made public.

But why would anyone here need to know just so they can play barrack room lawyers? Not necessary if this is a binding determination issued by an ombudsman - something nobody here can know until OP clarifies.

dunstonh

But you don't know if it is a FOS ruling. It's more likely to have come from the Pensions Ombudsman, given the nature of the complaint.

If it's a complaint about an adviser, then generally you would expect the FOS to be used rather than the PO.

Although it sounds as if the OP also complained to the pension provider (which could use either).

Has fraudulent use of digital signatures happened to anybody else and if so did you take the company to the small claims court and win.

It would be hard to see any regulated firm doing such a thing. And for the ombudsman (whichever one it is) to reject the complaint suggests there is more to this than you are telling us.

If there were clear evidence of fraudulent behaviour, you would expect the ombudsman to take that very seriously and uphold the complaint.

The £250 award is in the typical ballpark range for minor issues and inconvenience. So, not in keeping with an allegation of serious and fraudulent activity.

Digital signatures are an issue with unregulated scammers in a range of areas. Claims companies in particular have been reported on these forums many times for no contract being entered into yet a digital signature is provided as evidence.

Edlo1

I was telephoned 2 days after an initial meeting with Pension Advisor requesting that my digital signature be used to access information only from the Pension Companies and they were asked 3 times that it was all that it could be used for. Client agreement & SIPP application was then used without my permission the same day at around the same time as the phone call. I only found this out days after a second meeting when a promised written proposal report & Client Agreement should have been made available but was not and was promised that they would be sent in the post. Information on the SIPP provider started to arrive through the post stating that 2 of 6 Pensions had been transferred and the others were in process. Included in the documentation was the statutory prediction that should have been provided before the SIPP was started showing that it would only ever lose money. The Ombudsman did listen to the phone call and still upheld the Advisors version of events, refused to accept that I had suffered any financial loss or that it caused any distress. He also refused to consider the SIPP providers Final offer stating that the transfers should not have taken place, but that the SIPP had been started by the Financial Advisor using the Origo system to open the SIPP using the digital signature. I contacted the Advisor and they have finally paid the awarded amount. So the question now has changed to ask if anybody has complained to the Ombudsman as they state on their website how to challenge the decision on their website tusing the Independent Assessor Dame Gillian Guy but do not give any details how to contact her.

Marcon

They also say on their website that you need to make a formal complaint to FOS first, using FOS's own complaints procedure, and only when they have had an opportunity to review the complaint about them do they provide details of how to contact her.

dunstonh

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81942342#Comment_81942342

There is a lot of confusion and conflicting information in your posts. You say an ombudsman has ruled. Ombudsman decisions are on the public domain (but your details removed). Can you give us the DRN for the complaint so we can view the decision ourselves so we can understand it?

I found one that has similarities. https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN-5982559.pdf