Stay Safe

At GMP Independent Financial Advisers we respect your privacy and the confidentiality of your personal data. We want to help ensure that you’re doing everything you can to stay safe, especially when dealing with your finances.

Staying safe from scams

One area that our regulators are keen to make people aware of at the moment is the increased possibility of financial scams for both your investments and pensions. Here are some tips:

• beware of all unexpected calls, emails and text messages
• a genuine bank or organisation will not ask for your PIN, full password or to move money to another account
• never give out your personal or financial details unless it’s for a service you want to use, and where you trust the provider
• don’t be pressured into acting quickly – a genuine bank or financial services firm won’t mind giving you time to think
• always double-check the web link and company contact details in case it’s a ‘clone firm’ pretending to be a real firm
• if you get an email, expand the pane at the top of the message and see exactly who it has come from – if it’s a scam, the email address of the sender may be filled with random numbers or be misspelled
• beware that fraudsters can ‘clone’ these email addresses to make their emails seem genuine

If you have any doubts at all about what you are being asked to do, check with your provider. Always use contact details you can trust, for example the phone number on your bank statement or policy documentation.

You can check if a financial services firm is FCA authorised by checking the FCA Register for all authorised companies.

The FCA have also published support on potential coronavirus (Covid-19) scams covering how they could affect you, and how to protect yourself.

ScamSmart

Check an investment or pension opportunity you’ve been offered and avoid scams.

Don’t let a scammer enjoy your retirement – find out how pension scams work, how to avoid them and what to do if you suspect a scam.

Scammers can be articulate and financially knowledgeable, with credible websites, testimonials and materials that are hard to distinguish from the real thing. Scammers design attractive offers to persuade you to transfer your pension pot to them or to release funds from it. It is then invested in unusual and high-risk investments like overseas property, renewable energy bonds, forestry, storage units, or simply stolen outright.

That’s why the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has created a handy tool so you can check who you’re dealing with. For more information read the FCA pension scams leaflet, or find out more at www.fca.org.uk/scamsmart.