The regulator has worked with other government agencies on Project Bloom, set up to tackle pension scams. Project Bloom has identified a number of gangs with close family ties targeting pension savers. A number of criminal investigations into these family gangs are underway between TPR, government agencies and the police.
It says a number of cases are ongoing. The common theme appears to be family ties among the conspirators, with relatives benefiting from the scam. TPR says it has evidence of criminal behaviour worth tens of millions of pounds, involving siblings, married couples, parents and their adult children.
TPR says in some instances the criminal families hire rogue financial experts with specialist pension knowledge, including accountants, advisers and trustees, to manage big scams for them. The TPR are keen to point out the role trustees and administrators play in preventing members from falling victim to scams by identifying suspicious requests early – the better they are at spotting the signs of a scam, the quicker members can be warned and TPR can investigate.
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