The Pension Scams Industry Group is working with anti-fraud organisation Cifas to launch a network of open-source information on suspicious companies and pension arrangements, which specialists say could be an important step in bringing scams under control.

The project will allow network members to post concerns about companies and advisers they believe may be acting inappropriately or fraudulently, collecting details on arrangements including names, telephone numbers and addresses.

Not-for-profit Cifas has already completed similar work in the banking sector, collating thousands of cases of bank fraud shared by its members. By implementing a similar solution for pensions, PSIG hopes the industry will be able to take action against scammers earlier and warn off vulnerable members.

The group’s chair, Margaret Snowdon, said: “If one organisation has a concern about a particular firm, they can signal that and others can see that a concern has been logged.” While the system will stop short of passing judgment on organisations or individuals, schemes will be able to see information that has been considered a ‘red flag’ during due diligence processes conducted by other parties.

“We wouldn’t have a field to say this person is a scammer,” Ms Snowdon explained. This idea of an information-sharing network is not new, with FTAdviser reporting in February 2018 the intention to create a closed list of pension schemes and advisers that have been flagged as potential scammers, to be shared among trustees and providers.

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