It said that all advisers, administrators, trustees and providers should take responsibility for protecting pension savers by joining its pledge to combat pension scams.

The TPR launched the pledge in November 2020. It encourages schemes, providers and advisers to do more to protect savers from scams including reporting suspected scams to Action Fraud.

The regulator said almost 400 schemes have pledged or self-certified so far that they meet the campaign’s saver-protecting principles covering an estimated 16m pension pots.

Extra measures trustees, administrators, providers and advisers can take under the pledge include raising awareness of the risk of scams by warning members, understanding the warning signs of a scam, best practice for transfers and completing TPR’s Trustee Toolkit scams module, and reporting concerns about scams to Action Fraud or 101 in Scotland.

Nicola Parish, executive director of frontline regulation at the TPR said: “Scammers screw up lives and industry must stand up and do all it can to protect savers from these life-shattering crimes by joining our pledge campaign and reporting any suspected scams.

“New regulations have already introduced new duties on due diligence and warning members where a transfer shows features of a scam, so there’s no excuse for failing to report suspicions to the authorities.

“We’ve seen little evidence that the pensions industry is reporting its suspicions and this lack of data makes it difficult to accurately determine the scale of the problem and put in place successful interventions.” 

Regulations, arising from the Pension Schemes Act 2021, introduced a system of red and amber flags, giving trustees the power to refuse transfers where there's a heightened risk it may be part of a scam.

In January, TPR launched an advertising campaign via email and social media calling on the pensions industry to do more to stop scammers screwing up lives.