The Verification Desk

Category: Pension & Investment Scams

  • Scammed Once? The Next Caller May Pretend the FCA Has Recovered Your Money

    VERDICT: VERIFIED (V5)

    Losing money to fraud can create another vulnerability: somebody offering to get it back.

    CLAIM

    Fraudsters are impersonating the Financial Conduct Authority and telling previous fraud victims that money has been recovered, before trying to take further money or sensitive banking information.

    EVIDENCE

    The FCA said it received 4,465 reports of fake-FCA scams during the first six months of 2025. It recorded 480 people who had been duped into sending money. Almost two-thirds of reports came from people aged 56 or over.

    The regulator identified a common method in which fraudsters claimed the FCA had recovered funds from a cryptocurrency wallet opened illegally in the consumer’s name. It also identified approaches to previous loan-scam victims claiming the FCA could recover their losses, followed by attempts to obtain further funds. A separate reported variant falsely claimed that creditors had obtained a County Court Judgment and that money was owed to the FCA.

    TEST

    The figures come directly from the FCA. They cover fake-FCA scams generally, not only the recovered-money variant. TVD therefore does not attribute all 4,465 reports or all 480 payments to recovery fraud.

    VERDICT

    V5 — Verified.

    How to prevent it

    • Do not send money because an unexpected caller says the FCA has recovered previous losses.
    • The FCA says it will never ask you to transfer money to it or provide bank PINs or passwords.
    • End the contact and reach the FCA independently through its official contact details.
    • If you have previously been defrauded, be particularly cautious of unsolicited recovery offers.

    Warning signs

    • An unexpected caller says the FCA has recovered money for you.
    • You are asked to pay a fee, tax or release payment before receiving recovered funds.
    • The contact asks for PINs, passwords or a transfer of money.

    What to do if you responded

    Stop contact, contact your bank immediately if you paid or disclosed banking information, and independently contact the FCA using its official details. Preserve the telephone number, emails, payment details and any names used.

    Where to report it

    Report FCA impersonation to the FCA and report any fraud through the appropriate official fraud-reporting route. See Fraud First Aid for urgent steps after a payment or disclosure.

    Source: Financial Conduct Authority, “Almost 5,000 fake FCA scams reported in first 6 months of 2025”, 27 August 2025.

  • Your Pension Provider May Be Talking to a Fraudster Who Is Pretending to Be You

    VERDICT: VERIFIED (V5)

    Some pension fraud no longer depends on persuading the saver to make a transfer. The attacker may instead try to convince the pension scheme that they are the saver.

    CLAIM

    Fraudsters are using hacking and impersonation techniques to gain unauthorised access to pension accounts and attempt to bypass scheme security.

    EVIDENCE

    The Pensions Regulator (TPR) published an industry alert after an analyst seconded to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau examined Action Fraud reports received between October 2024 and March 2025. TPR said almost a third of the reports analysed referenced attempts to bypass pension-scheme defences and exploit security vulnerabilities to gain unauthorised access to members’ accounts.

    Methods identified by TPR included hacking a member’s email to obtain correspondence with the pension scheme, then impersonating the member and attempting to change beneficiary bank details. TPR also identified attempts involving fake pension accounts, poorly secured credentials and diversion of deceased members’ pension funds. Members aged 50–69 represented 55% of reported victims in the analysis.

    TEST

    The finding comes from the pensions regulator and is based on analysed fraud reports. The “almost a third” figure applies to the reports in that specific October 2024–March 2025 analysis; it must not be presented as one third of all UK pension fraud.

    VERDICT

    V5 — Verified. The impersonation/account-takeover technique is directly documented by TPR.

    How to prevent it

    • Turn on two-step verification for your email and pension accounts where available.
    • Use a unique password for the email account connected to your pension.
    • Check that your pension provider holds your correct contact details.
    • Treat unexpected notifications of changed bank or contact details as urgent and contact the scheme through a known route.

    Warning signs

    • An unexpected pension notification says your bank, beneficiary or contact details have changed.
    • You receive password-reset or login alerts you did not initiate.
    • Pension correspondence disappears from or appears unexpectedly in a compromised email account.

    What to do if you responded

    Contact the pension scheme using independently verified details, ask whether any account, beneficiary or payment instructions have changed, secure the linked email account and change reused passwords. Preserve security alerts and correspondence.

    Where to report it

    Tell the pension provider immediately. If fraud or attempted fraud is identified, use the appropriate official fraud-reporting route. See Fraud First Aid if money or account access may already be affected.

    Source: The Pensions Regulator, “Industry alert: impersonation fraud”, published September 2025 and updated January 2026.

    Evidence boundary: the regulator establishes the technique and the characteristics of the analysed reports. TVD is not attributing failures to any particular pension provider.