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<p>DWP is working across government and with regulators to monitor and respond to
any increases in transfers or pension scams. To date, this monitoring has revealed
little evidence to demonstrate an increase in either transfers or scams across the
industry as a whole as confirmed by the independent regulator. This has been confirmed
by responses from industry. The Government will continue to monitor and respond to
any emerging evidence.</p><p>The Government established Project Bloom, a cross-government
taskforce that brings together law enforcement, government and industry to share intelligence,
raise awareness of and the reporting of scams through public communication campaigns,
and take enforcement action where appropriate.</p><p>Please see links below for more
information about the joint statement from Regulators and the Money Advice Service,
and help available, produced by the Pension Protection Fund and supported by government.</p><p><a
href="https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/covid-19-savers-stay-calm-dont-rush-financial-decisions"
target="_blank">https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/covid-19-savers-stay-calm-dont-rush-financial-decisions</a></p><p><a
href="https://www.ppf.co.uk/sites/default/files/file-2020-05/COVID-19-and-your-pension.pdf"
target="_blank">https://www.ppf.co.uk/sites/default/files/file-2020-05/COVID-19-and-your-pension.pdf</a></p><p>The
Government continues to work with Regulators and enforcement agencies to prevent scams
and take appropriate action. In the period March - July 2020, 116 reports of possible
pension fraud were received by Action Fraud, compared to 179 for the same period in
2019.</p><p>Project Bloom has identified that the methodology of scammers is continually
evolving, moving away from the traditional type of theft of peoples pensions through
setting up a sham scheme, towards investment related fraud. Investment related fraud
includes persuading individuals to invest in ventures that do not exist or using multiple
charging structures that the member is not aware of.</p>
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