The Association of British Insurers (ABI) wants the government to take the ban on cold calling on pensions a step further by banning ‘cowboy’ firms from contacting consumers via all forms of digital communication.
In a response to a Treasury consultation on pensions scams, the ABI said while it is supportive of the proposals outlined in the consultation, the government should extend the ban to include emails and texts. This would prevent the cold calling ban being circumvented by fraudsters.
The ABI also said it is vital that consumers are aware that cold calls on pensions will be illegal and to report them accordingly.
Yvonne Braun, director of long-term savings and protection policy at the ABI, said: “The ban on cold calling announced in the Autumn Statement is a good first step but the government needs to ensure consumers are fully protected from the pension cowboys – they should not be allowed anywhere near people’s life savings.
“Banning cold-calling and other measures in the consultation should help, but we need to make sure cold calls aren’t just replaced by a deluge of spam emails and texts. That’s why we think further measures to stop fraudsters from using other forms of technology need to be considered by the government.”
Although this ban should be imposed we should not lose sight of the fact that many thousands of people have been severely financially disadvantaged for year after year by the terms imposed by the life & pensions companies themselves. And the various governments have always been too slow and reluctant in protecting the public from the onerous terms.