Data gathered by Action Fraud and published by the Office for National Statistics also show that the number of fraud cases linked to pension liberation schemes increased slightly to 758 cases in 2014, from 719 in 2013.
Fraudulent liberation schemes constituted nearly 88% of the overall pension fraud cases in 2014, whereas ‘pension fraud committed on pensions’ only made up 78 of the total cases, and ‘pension fraud by pensioner (or their estates)’ constituted 27.
Fears about pension scams have grown in the wake of new freedoms, and some have expressed concerns about unregulated financial advisers selling pension schemes which are unsuitable for clients.
In March, life insurance firm Phoenix Group said it had prevented £8m being stolen from pension savings through potentially fraudulent liberation schemes.
