Pension fraud and pension liberation causing chaos and misery. But there is so much more to come when pension "freedoms" open the floodgates to the fraudsters. Not just the usual suspects, but whole armies of opportunists ready to scam the unwary victims who will lose their pensions. Hundreds of Ark victims are now receiving tax demands, only a few months after Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions (the principal promoter and administrator behind Ark) claimed "Ark is history".

1. By Sally Hamilton
PENSION freedom provides oppor-
tunities. But it also increases the
danger of being hoodwinked by
fraudsters eager to get their hands
on your lifetime savings.
The Work And Pensions Select
Committee warned earlier this
month that many people were ill-
equipped to make decisions about
their retirement, savings.
This, it said, left them wide open to
scams. 'The committee called for a
single regulator to be created, tough
enough to protect retirement sayers
from rip-offs and fraud.
Currently, regulation is' split
between The Pensions Regulator -
with its focus on workplace pensions
-t and the Financial Conduct Author-
ity, These two watchdogs are strug-
gling to stamp out pension scams
that target the under-SSs.
Operating under the enticing ban-
ner of1.iberator schemes', salesmen.
are luring pension savers with texts
and emaiIs promising them {the
chance to access their pension early.
But to do this the pension fund must
be transferred to another scheme,
usually based overseas and invested
in high-risk assets.
Dishonest
salesmen -
who take a
hefty fee
for the
transac-
tion - fail
to point
out that
savers
risk a 55
per cent
tax penalty
for accessing
their pot early.
For example, a
retirement saver with
£100,000 who wants to take
out £30,000 before the age of 55
would be likely to pay a 30 per cent
fee (£33,000) to the liberator, from
the fund, The taxman would then
come after the saver for a 55
per cent charge on the whole unau-
thorised transfer of £100,000. This
would lead to a 55 per cent tax
charge of £55,500.
So to get a £30,000 sum from a pen-
sion, it could cost an investor
£88,000. And there is no guarantee
there will be any money left when
they retire. Pension freedoms arriv-
ing next month will make life easier
for the scammers. They will be able
Making sare that ,oar
investlDent is safe
to target the over-5Ss and tempt
them into expensive and high-risk
ventures. Jamie Jenkins, head of
pensions strategy at wealth man-
ager Standard Life, says: 'People
should not engage with anyone who
'cold calls them about their pension.
Instead, speak to the pension pro-
vider, someone at the Government's
Pension Wise service or a financial
adviser.' Pension advisers are also
warning people to take care when
carrying out an online search for
the free Government-backed Pen-
sion Wise service. Fake websites
with similar names are sprouting up