Guy Opperman MP: together we can stop pension scammers

There should be more emphasis on the spirit of ALL laws passed in Parliament, because the legal eagles that search for loopholes in such legislation, cannot fail to recognise they are basically finding ways to make laws impotent. This is against the spirit of Democracy, & most certainly illegal in itself. This applies to pension laws in particular, as they are neccesarily complicated & give great scope for cynical lawyers to allow their clients free range, to pickpocket us all.

I really thought it the was the most stupid thing to allow pensions to be taken in large lump sums. It stands to reason that some would see the provision of a car or a holiday as more important than any security for old age. And when their own provision was exhausted in this stupid fashion would then call again for a larger state provision. I am sorry to say too that Brown signalled the end of final salary pension schemes when he stupidly interfered with the tax regime surrounding them. Employers could not act quickly enough to dump them afterwards

I agree with the other comments advocating committal to prison for such scamming (theft, fraudulent) practices. Not all pensioners are in a vulnerable condition due to illness (mental and physical) but some are and are easy targets for these criminals. Our legislators seem to be generally accepting of the devastation theft through white collar crime causes to victims. There are and have been many high publicity examples reported historically where entire pension funds have been looted . We need regulations with teeth and impact in this area of business – a call for ethical practice is worse than useless in the face of absolute greed .

The punishment, has got to be tough, to make these criminal, think twice before stealing from pensioners.

As we are leaving the EU the pension rules (opening up the market), should be reversed. We need to go back to the simpler system. Also it should be illegal for the Government to dip into the pension fund like Gordon Brown did and due to interest that would have been accumulated, he has cost people billions of pounds. He started this underfunded crisis (but MPs lile to blame people for living longer instead of admitting the truth) and the EU rules which also cost people 20% off their pensions put the nail in the coffin.

I do not think George Osbourne’s change to allow people to have such ready access to their pension pots was a good idea. The scams were so predictable but on top of this so many people may not have the skills to invest their pension pots themselves – it has to cover the rest of your life! Pehaps it should be compulsory to have impartial advice.

I used to think those in Parliament were bright folks but the older I get the more I realise they are not too bright. Legislation will never beat the overseas scammers, calls coming into my phone showed as ‘number withheld’ or international are just cut off automatically so no extra legislation required for me thank you.

I know it’s super simplistic but if everyone in the country wrote down THINK SCAM? on a Post It note or piece of paper, or got it laminated onto a little plastic card, and stuck it right next to the phone, it might help people just be aware of scammers before they pick the phone up.

Confidence tricksters are so sly, people really need to be armed and on the defensive these days even before the phone rings. Also have an easy A-B-C of what to say. If you are concerned for your elderly friends or relatives – though of course all ages are open to scam abuse – you could write down that you CAN put the phone down if someone rings you out of the blue. Because often once caught in conversation many people feel obliged to listen when they CAN put the phone down. If it’s looking at you in print, it’s easier to do.

Scams arrive via email too, not just telephone. Surely include all communication channels to catch & punish fraudsters.

I am extremely pleased the Government have given access to personal pension-pots, the old system of compulsory annuities was a total rip-off by any measure ( so when you die the assurance company keeps all your money … oh please ! ), access to YOUR money comes with responsibility, which needs to be taught wisely to everyone from an early age, people who fixate on the old system forget people’s priorities change with age, you may be terminally ill ( if so you may wish to take your pension and spend it within 5 years .. it’s called freedom of choice ). As for scammers, the answer is simple, bring in draconian penalties which on prosecution include 20 years in jail together with total sequestration of ALL their personal assets. (sadly, the overseas scam operations will need international co-operation, which will always remain a threat). Banks could easily seek redress by identifying recipients at the end of the money-transfer chain, all large capital movements can be monitored, so why do banks co-operate so much with these criminals, I’ve never understood the bank’s complicity, the banks have always known who the scammers are.

As someone who lost their life savings through two scams I’d like to make these points;
1] it seems easier to send a homeless person to prison for stealing a bottle of water than to convict and inprison someone who has set up a ‘false company’, ‘IPR Capital’ for example, in order to defraud and who then go on to defraud. ‘White collar’ crime carried out by mainly white, middle-class men is too often almost accepted by the Powers That Be; they’re ‘one of us. It is too easy for some accountants to ‘hide’ money and other assets of people who have defrauded – houses in wives’ or childrens’ names, school fees in ‘charitable’ trusts, etc. It needs to be more difficult to bend/break the law this way ‘;
2] some of these alleged ‘businesses’ i.e. ‘Voiptel’, ‘Sterling and Bond’ seem to operate out of ‘virtual offices’. There seems to be little/no interest taken by those letting these ‘virtual’. spaces of who these people, their tenants, are and what they are doing. I feel they need to be more strictly regulated;
3] bona-fide-ish companys need to record all conversations. A third company in which I ‘invested’, dealing in wine, cold-called me and gave me what I allege to be misleading information, both before and then after the sale. I am looking into the legal implications of this;
4] I was personally disguisted with ‘in’Action Fraud. I found them dangerously inefficient in their work in at least one case.
. One of the companies who had defrauded me had a known Bank Account number and Bank address. I contacted the manager of this city of London branch and they stated there was a good chance of getting my money back in Action Fraud worked promptly. I also found out the actual trading address, as well as the ‘virtual’ address, their previous address, and through a business website, the actual names of the directors and their home addresses. I also found the stated address of their accountants.
I gave ‘in’Action Fraud the details, both over the phone and by email. I received an email back to confirm they had received my email.
Then I heard nothing. Nada. Niet. Eventually a letter arrived which someone had kindly redirected to my correct address. [ ‘Action’ Fraud had sent it to an address that had nothing to do with me]. I had dome all the investigative work, they followed-up nothing at all, and then even messed up my address!
Fraud needs to be given a much higher priority. In my experience, ‘Action’ Fraud are a waste of money and not fit for purpose.

Hi we have to put warnings in ink in newspapers and magazines and billboards. A lot of people don’t have computers and Internet

It is very difficult when investing money these days, too much to choose from, and of course the ones that just want your money.
If it is a pension, I think the best people to know are either the advisor or the company you are with.
The advisor should be aware of scams and do all the correct checks and be insured; at a price.
But if you go aloan; then the company you have the pension with; should be responsible
for where it goes, ie. should know if the transfer is to a legit company or bogus one and advise you.
This is then backed by the Government as they will have given permission for the company to operate.
Could this be set up ?

anyone caught cold calling in any way should face a very heavy fine and or imprisonment

These scammers are a plague. When they are caught they do not get severe enough sentences. They cost everyone money whether it is a pension scam or other,and you do not have to be involved in a scam. It costs money for your virus protection.
I’m sure the internet suppliers such as B T could do more to eliminate these people and the government could send them to prison for say 30 yrs minimum instead of treating them as naughty children or refusing to extradite them as a fairly recent case shows.

Stop making electoral register info available to anyone other than the council and perhaps other government bodies. The companies that buy lists are very often too pushy with pensioner’s. I personally don’t think these lists should be sold. It’s private and personal information. Not everyone realises they can opt out, that part could be bigger and clearer and fully and clearly explained.

Its a start but it will not stop callers from overseas who are generally immune to UK law. More needs to be done

Stop all cold calling regardless of what the product or service is, we’re not stupid if we want something we can sort it out ourselves. The phone companies could also help stop these scammers because they should notice the same or similar telephone numbers repeatedly calling their customers, like the banks do. We have friends and family numbers so most phone companies would recognise these.

The company issuing these scamming telephone numbers to fraudsters should be made to repay all the money they’ve scammed out of people plus jail the CEO and his staff should be jailed for 25 years each.

All the phone companies need to fight this fraud together.

I feel the telephone companies should do more to stop these calls, they certainly know when and to who my calls are made, they never miss a single phone call on my bill, I don’t know how these scammers can get away without paying their bills; In which case they should know who is making these calls and hold them to account, or stop anyone without a paying telephone number making calls at all! They seem to have the technology for almost anything else.

Any change in legislation intended should already at the wording think about possible misuse of the changes.
So, before it goes to any vote : let it be read by a person without legal training, in the 30 to 50 ties.
(Best would be naturally a person known for objecting to statements. If available).
Any paragraph , which gives rise to a question, has to be re-evaluated based on he content of the question.

The use of nearly similar names or emails is one of the first points to be fixed.

A nation wide education that when answering a telephone not using your name is in these days essential. “Good day!” should do.
Asking to repeat the name of the company has already led to many call s being ended by the caller; in my experience.

I think that while it is a good idea to ban the calls, emails etc about pensions; it would be worthwhile if this could be monitored to check that scammers are respecting the ban.

One of the main reasons why these scammers are successful is through the companies who sell on our details. Although it’s now too late it is where the government should have initially started and introduced legislation preventing this. There are now (and no-one knows how many) multiple companies in the UK and around the world who have our information and am sure sell them on to other companies when they no longer have a use for them.

The problem is not just for these scams, but the courts hands are tied by the law of the land. Criminals of many kinds aren’t bothered anymore about doing easy time.
My answer would be to have shorter sentences, but make it so miserable, they would cry themselves to sleep every night! We are far too soft! I am not advocating a return of the birch etc, but, all criminals should be made to work while incarcerated, without any television, games, iPads etc. If they won’t work, then they don’t eat! If I hadn’t worked there would have been no food on my table!
MAKE THEM PAY! Anything they own should be sold to compensate their victims! Let their family go without, not innocent people.
W.J.Findley