Chancellor Phillip Hammond is set to announce a ban on the scourge of cold callers by pension scammers in his 2016 Autumn Statement.
Pension providers, financial advisers and consumer groups has badgered the government for months to stop the calls aimed at swindling retirement savers out of their pensions.
The Treasury has finally agreed the pension savers should have better protection after revealing 11 million people are targeted with the insidious calls every year.
The crooks netted £19 million from pension fraud in the last financial year, said the government.
The ban will start with unsolicited telephone calls, and could expand to text messages and emails after consultation.
Offenders face fines of up to £500,000.
Onslaught of calls from fraudsters
Older savers have faced a telephone onslaught from scammers since pension freedoms were introduced in April 2015.
Scammers typically offer victims a ‘free pension review’ and then target switching their funds to risky offshore investments.
Popular so-called high yield and high risk investments include fine wine, carbon credits, hotel resorts and financing timber or agricultural plantations.
Unfortunately for most savers, once their pension cash moves into one of these schemes, the money is lost.
In recent weeks, 7,000 retirement savers have signed a petition calling for a cold-call ban and the movement has been backed by several pension providers, such as Royal London.
Despite the respite for millions of savers, the government can do nothing to stop scammers from making their cold calls from overseas.
Crooks may move offshore
The ban in the UK is likely to see fraudsters moving offshore to avoid detection and penalties.
The new laws are likely to ban calls from any financial adviser or provider who has no existing relationship with the retirement saver.
The Treasury is also considering allowing financial providers to police pension transfers and to give them powers to hold up switching money to dubious firms.
Also in the government’s sights are small self-administered pensions, which HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) considers are often the way scammers shield their activities with a mask of respectability.
The Chancellor is expected to include the cold-call ban announcement in his 2016 Autumn Statement in Parliament on Wednesday (November 23)