WIREDGOV

New efforts to protect pensioners and those approaching retirement from too-good-to-be-true investment schemes have been backed by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

New research from the Financial Conduct Authority shows around a quarter of investment fraud cases involve unregaulated products, bought from unathorised firms.    

As part of its ScamSmart campaign, the FCA said a sustained period of low interest rates had led to over-55s adopting riskier investments that promise high rates of interest.

Of a survey of more than 2,300 people aged 55 or over, 13 per cent said they were unaware unauthorised firms offering unregulated products meant no protection from either FSCS or the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Be a ScamSmart investor:

• Investment fraud is often sophisticated and very difficult to spot;
• Fraudsters can be articulate and appear financially-knowledgable;
• They have credible websites, testimonials and materials that can be hard to distinguish from the real thing;
• Reject unsolicited contact about investments.

The advice is:

Be sceptical. Be suspicious. Ask questions. Check the FCA ScamSmart website, the FCA warning list and the FCA register to see if those wanting your money are genuine.

To find out more, or to report a suspected scam, go to www.fca.org.uk/scamsmart