With modern technology, scammers can produce professional-looking materials and even ‘clone' websites of legitimate companies. They use psychological tricks and sophisticated marketing techniques to play on people's ‘fear of missing out'.

A common scam tactic is to offer a free review of your pension, followed by an invitation to transfer your pension benefits out to somewhere you will, supposedly get better value.

How to avoid scams

• Ignore any unsolicited contact about your pension. Organisations should not contact you unless you contact them first.
• Be wary of approaches that appear to be from your bank or pension provider. They may know personal details about you, but those are generally easy to find online.
• Never call back or reply to an email directly – find the provider's real contact details from a trusted source and use those.
• Do not open links in texts, emails or social media messages.
• Check that the organisation or financial adviser appears on the FCA's register of authorised firms

Reporting a scam

If you think you've encountered a scam, here's how to report it: