The Plymouth-headquartered national company says 1 in 20 (as many as 125,000 people) say they have lost money through one or more pension scams.

The figures, from a Succession survey of 2,300 consumers, back up the view that pension fraud is becoming a bigger problem and the scale of the threat has been under-reported.

The company says its research reveals that only 22% of people aged 50 and over, who believe they have been targeted by pension scammers, have reported being targeted to the authorities.

The company, which has £7.75bn of investments under management and more than 20,000 clients, says that 10% of people aged 50 and over with pension plans “believe” they have been approached by pension scammers trying to access their savings. 

Of those contacted by pension scammers,  84% claim to have been approached in the past 12 months, with 6% saying they were contacted more than 10 times.

Succession Wealth’s research reveals that 68% of people who believe they have been targeted by a pension scammer said they were contacted by phone, with 27% saying email was used. Some 4% said they were visited by them in person.

In terms of the tactics used by pension scammers, the findings reveal that 62% of those who believe they have been targeted said they were offered a ‘free’ pension review and 42% were told about an investment scheme that promised high guaranteed returns. 

Some 27% said they were put under pressure to give an answer quickly and nearly one in five were told about opportunities to use their pension savings to invest in other products but given no details of these.  

Mark Stokes, head of communications, Succession Wealth said: “Our findings are very alarming and illustrate the potential scale of the problem that is pension scamming.  Some of the people being targeted are vulnerable and more needs to be done to protect them. The FCA’s Scamsmart initiative is very helpful in this regard.

“We are writing to all of our 20,000 plus clients to warn them of this problem. Given that we manage many of their pension plans, Succession is able to help clients  ensure that they don’t become victims of this crime.”

Succession Wealth commissioned research company Consumer Intelligence to survey 2,315 people aged 50 and over with pensions savings.  Some 223 said that they believed they had been contacted by pension scammers. Interviews were conducted online between in early March.

Succession, set up by the late Simon Chamberlain, has 12 offices nationwide and is growing rapidly.