Fraudsters are stepping up their efforts to get their hands on people’s life savings with a flood of cold calls – while a British government plan to silence them has been pushed back a year.
The long-awaited law banning telephone calls, texts and emails from scammers was destined for the upcoming Financial Guidance and Claims Bill, but will be put on the back burner because of legal issues concerning the wording of the bill.
This gives the scammers extra breathing space to ply their evil trade.
Consumer watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority reckons almost a third of pension savers approaching retirement have had unsolicited contact from a scammer.
107,000 potential victims
And 5% or one in 20 of these 55 to 64 years olds discussed the out-of-the blue offer with scammers.
This adds up to 107,000 potential victims of scams, says the FCA.
The cold call ban was announced last year by The Treasury in response to industry pressure and an 8,000-signature petition.
The measure was then delayed because of the general election earlier in 2017, but resurfaced with a consultation response in August, but no timescale was scheduled for bringing in the legislation.
Tom Selby, an analyst at pension and investment firm AJ Bell, said another Finance Bill is expected in 2018 but that may not become law until 2019.
Shocking delay
“I think it reflects very poorly on this government if measures to protect savers announced almost a year ago – and which were already long overdue – will not be implemented next year,” he said.
“They have used two announcements to claim credit for it, so they have to accept criticism when nothing actually happens. People are looking for concrete evidence of the negative impact of Brexit – this is as clear an example as you could wish for.
“A policy which all parties agree is necessary to protect consumers might not see the light of day 2019 because the government held an election to gain a mandate for Brexit. It’s absolutely shocking and while no one is saying the anti-scams measures set out will solve the problem outright, they will make a difference.”
