A pension consultancy firm says it has found signs of potential scam activity in 11% of pension transfer requests.

The analysis comes from Xafinity’s pension scam identification unit which helps Trustees identify potential pension scams connected with member transfers.

The service shows that cold calling is increasingly common and that many scammers are enticing members by offering “free pension reviews” and “free advice”, the firm revealed.

The news comes as the FCA ramped up its ScamSmart campaign, aimed to help prevent fraudsters cheating consumers out of their money via investments.

Jackie Warwick, head of Xafinity’s pension scam identification unit, said: “Scammers are becoming much more sophisticated and spotting potential scams is becoming harder. The issue is exacerbated by unregulated ‘third party introducers’, many of whom offer “free pension reviews” and who find clients for regulated financial advisers.

“We have also seen the involvement of those selling unregulated investments within the proposed pension scheme ‘wrapper’ and some regulated financial advisers recommending the ‘wrapper’ but not the actual investment.

“With so many parties involved, some regulated and some not, and with some advice regulated and some not, it can be very difficult for an unsuspecting individual to identify a potential scam.”

He added: “Our clients are increasingly concluding that simply asking members to tick a box asking whether they have received a cold call or been offered a free pension review is insufficient in the current environment.”