Steve Cook, IFA, St Albans - Tips to spot Covid-19 related financial scams

Friday 1 May, 2020

Lonsdale Wealth Management understands that our clients are focusing on their health during lockdown, however be aware that there continues to be financial scams and it is important to be able to recognise these.

Financial scams in relation to pensions, savings & investments

The FCA reminds consumers that like anything valuable, your pension or investments can become the target for illegal activities, scams or inappropriate investments.  Scams can take many forms and often appear to be a legitimate investment opportunity.

Consumers should be careful if they are accessing their pension pot or investments and investing in something that has warning signs of a scam.  These include:

• Unusually high rates of return.
• Special offers.
• Pressure to act quickly.
• Phone calls or letters from people that you don’t know.

The regulators recommend 4 simple steps consumers can take to protect themselves from pension scams:

• Reject unexpected pension offers whether made online, on social media or over the phone.
• Check who you are dealing with before changing your pension arrangements – check the FCA Register https://register.fca.org.uk/ or call the FCA helpline on 0800 111 6768 to see if the provider you are dealing with is authorised by the FCA.
• Don’t be rushed or pressured into making any decision about your pension.
• Consider getting impartial information or advice, for example from your independent financial adviser or another trusted professional.

Examples of New Covid-19 related scams 

Some of the new scams include: 

• ‘Good cause’ scams, where scammers will ask you to invest in good causes such as face masks and hand sanitiser production, often promising lucrative returns. 
• Cold calls, emails, texts or WhatsApp messages telling you that your bank is in trouble due to coronavirus and you need to transfer your money to an alternative bank account. 
• Scammers asking for upfront fees when applying for loans or credit cards that you’ll never receive, in an attempt to exploit people experiencing short-term financial concerns. 

Here are some of the signs of a scam, that you should look out for at all times: 

• A call, email or text message asking for personal details or for you to transfer money. 
• A clone firm – this is where a scammer may cold call or email you claiming to represent an authorised firm to appear genuine. They may want to advise you on the sale of a pension or investment product. 
• Anyone asking you for your passwords. 
• Anyone asking you to move money into another account, or asking you to pay fees directly into another bank account. 

How to protect yourself from fraudsters 

There are ways you can protect yourself from these scams:

• Don’t click links or open emails from senders you don't already know. 
• Don’t give personal details out to anyone you don’t know. 
• Be vigilant when taking unsolicited calls or checking unexpected emails or letters. 
• Avoid being rushed or pressured into making decisions. 

The Financial Conduct Authority has more information on scams. You can find this on their Covid-19 scams webpage. 

Steve Cook, independent financial adviser and director at Lonsdale Services, St Albans said: 

‘We encourage everyone to follow the FCA guidelines but if you receive any post, phone calls or emails in relation to your pension, investments or general savings that you are suspicious about please contact your Lonsdale Wealth Management financial adviser or a member of our financial planning team.  Remember not to give out any of your personal information to anyone.  Lonsdale Services adheres to a strict policy in that we will not action any emails for a fund withdrawal without speaking to the client first to confirm their identity and authorise the withdrawal request.   For more information read, Neil Homer, independent financial adviser, Stafford – How Lonsdale protects clients against scammers.  I am a member of the Lonsdale Wealth Management vulnerable client group, who meet regularly to discuss relevant client issues including financial scams.  We also continually monitor when our clients receive financial scams so we can make all our financial advisers aware and warn other Lonsdale Wealth Management clients.’

 

 

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