Two pension savers in England and Wales lost more than £400,000 each to scams in 2025/26, according to data obtained from the City of London Police through a freedom of information (FOI) request.

The FOI, submitted by Identomat, found that 242 pension savers reported pension scams during the year, with total reported losses reaching approximately £7.7m.

Average losses across all reported cases stood at £31,835. While most victims lost less than £10,000, 19 people reported losses of more than £100,000 each.

The average loss among the 10 worst-affected victims was £334,097.

Of the 242 cases reported, 69 per cent related to pensioners in drawdown, while 31 per cent involved pension liberation scams targeting savers who were still building up their pension pots.

According to Identomat, drawdown victims are often targeted by fraudsters posing as pension providers or bank employees in an attempt to divert pension payments.

Other tactics include fraudulent investment opportunities promising higher returns and romance scams designed to gain access to retirement income.

Identomat CEO, Zurab Kotaria, said the police figures illustrate the “ruinous losses” suffered by those who fall victim to pension scams.

“Gone are the days when a few security questions were sufficient to beat the scammer. Supercharging digital defences is critical if pension providers want to guard against pension members having their life savings wiped out by scammers.

“Pension providers and banks need to rethink their approach and start verifying the person, not their password, because often the answers to those security questions are exactly what a fraudster has already collected during the impersonation process.”

He suggested that using “biometric liveness scans” that analyse facial movements could help stop scammers from redirecting pension payments.

Pension liberation scams target savers still building up their pension pots by promising early access to retirement savings. Victims can be left facing substantial tax penalties and scam-related losses.

Kotaria added: “Verifying the legitimacy of the receiving scheme and the credentials of the people behind it is a crucial safeguard in combating pension liberation scams.

“Red flags that compliance screening can throw up include the receiving scheme being a recently incorporated company, or not being registered with HMRC or the Financial Conduct Authority.

“The profile of the pension member looking to make the transfer is also something that can trigger alarm bells with the right screening.

“With the right tech safeguards, these transfer requests can be identified as suspicious and flagged to the authorities.”

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