A victim of a pension liberation scam killed himself after losing £42,000 to crooks who tricked him out of his money.
The anonymous man, aged 40, answered cold-call messages from pension liberation scammers who offered to unlock his pension early.
The deal was to give him £17,000 cash after deducting fees from the pension.
“He never received the cash,” said the fraud victim’s mother. “No one should go through what we did.
“The people behind this are crooks with no feelings who are just after other people’s money. If anyone is tempted to take their offer, don’t do it.”
Heartbroken mother
The heartbroken mother was speaking out as part of a combined anti pension fraud campaign run by the police, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and The Pensions Regulator (TPR) aimed at publicising how pension liberation scammers work.
Pension liberation is accessing retirement savings before the age of 55.
Although taking the cash is legal, providing a 55% tax charge on the value of the amount withdrawn is paid to HMRC, many of the firms advising retirement savers are fraudsters disappearing with the money belonging to their victims.
TPR estimates scammers have snatched at least £500 million from pension liberation – and the figure could be much higher as many duped savers do not report the crime.
Another victim, a woman aged 49, may have to pay an £18,000 tax bill and risks losing her home after due to a pension liberation con said: “I was stupid. I listened to what they had to say and just thought about what I could do with the money. Now I wish I had gone to an independent financial advisor.
“I could lose everything and in the end, I got nothing.”
Pension predators
TPR, the police and HMRC are stepping up the pressure on pension liberation firms as part of the pension predator campaign that carries a scorpion logo to show how the scam has a sting in the tail.
“These schemes sound very plausible but they are not,” said a TPR spokesman. 2The salesmen have a convincing patter but neglect to mention the fees involved and people believe they are due a lot more money than they actually get.
“Often, they get nothing at all as the money is whisked off to foreign bank accounts and is untraceable.”
Key signs of pension liberation scams are cold calls, emails or text messages offering free pension reviews, high yield overseas investments and ‘government endorsed’ schemes .
