One in five UK pension savers (20%) have received at least one communication about their pension that they suspected might be a scam, according to Heywood’s Pension Pulse 2026 research. As scams become more convincing, members are starting to question genuine messages too. Schemes need to make their own communications easy to recognise, give members one secure place to check, and keep members’ personal and financial data secure.
Pension scams are common enough that many members now doubt messages about their pension. In Heywood’s Pension Pulse 2026 research, a survey of 2,000 UK consumers by Censuswide, one in five (20%) said they had received at least one pension communication they suspected might be a scam.
Younger savers are the most suspicious. Almost one in three 18–24-year-olds (32%) and 29% of 25–34-year-olds said they had received a pension message they suspected was a scam, compared with about one in ten people aged over 45. That doesn’t mean older savers are targeted less: they may be more trusting, or less aware of the risks. So every member needs to know how to tell a genuine message from a fake one.
The losses are real. In its latest annual figures, Action Fraud reports that £17.6 million of pension savings was lost to fraud in 2024, across 519 reports – an average of £33,848 per victim, or more than £48,000 every day.
The wider picture is worsening. UK Finance’s Annual Fraud Report 2026 shows criminals stole £1.28 billion through fraud in 2025, up 4% on 2024. Losses to investment scams rose 40% to £221.5 million, the highest ever recorded.
Scammers still use unsolicited calls, texts and emails, but there may no longer be a person behind them. Criminals are now using AI to make calls and respond to their targets in real time. That means they can make far more calls than before and reach more people than ever, with each scam more convincing:
“It’s definitely something consumers are more switched on to. With scammers getting smarter it’s getting harder for members to check what’s real.”
Harriet Hirst, Chief Client Relationship Officer, Heywood
Because scam awareness campaigns have worked. Members have learned to be wary of unexpected emails and texts about their pension, so some genuine messages now look suspicious too. That has a cost: a member who ignores a real message may miss a deadline, a decision or an important change to their benefits.
The answer is not to communicate less, but to communicate in a way members can recognise and trust. That means a consistent style, tone and cadence, and clear guidance on how to check that a message is genuine.
Secure member portals help. In Pension Pulse 2026, more than three-quarters of respondents (77%) had logged into an online portal to view pension information, and nine in ten of them (90%) were confident the information there was accurate. When schemes and members communicate online, regularly and in a secure, authenticated space, both sides can trust the information being shared.
The channel should match the message. We recommend text messages for simple notifications, email for longer messages with little personal information, and a secure portal for anything containing personal or private details. For members who haven’t yet signed up to the portal, secure email can answer their immediate question and encourage them online.
Pension schemes hold exactly what fraudsters want: personal details, bank accounts and large sums of money. Some attacks target the scheme rather than the member, by trying to change a member’s bank details or request a transfer in their name. Others target the systems and suppliers that hold member data.
The wider threat is constant. In the year to August 2026, the National Cyber Security Centre received 1,831 reports of cyber attacks on UK organisations and handled 337 incidents, 80 of them nationally significant. Its Annual Review 2026, published on 3 November, found that most successful attacks still exploit familiar weaknesses, and that people remain a main target, through social engineering and stolen login details.
The industry is responding together. Since 2023, the Pensions Administration Standards Association (PASA) has run its Cyber and Fraud Information Sharing Network, so administrators can share intelligence on cybercrime and fraud in a secure, confidential setting. The Pensions Regulator and the Pension Scams Action Group have also built an AI tool to find scam websites: by April 2025 it had reviewed 830 sites and helped take down 29 high-risk ones.
Keeping member data safe is a shared responsibility. Trustees, administrators and the technology suppliers they rely on all have a part to play, and the Pensions Regulator expects trustees to manage cyber risk across their suppliers too. As a pension software provider, Heywood is certified to ISO 27001, the international standard for information security management, and holds Cyber Essentials Plus, the UK government-backed scheme that independently tests an organisation’s defences against common cyber-attacks.
Don’t click links or call numbers in a message you’re unsure about. Log in to your scheme’s member portal or contact the scheme using details from an earlier statement or its official website. A genuine scheme will never ask for your password or bank details by email or text.
One in five UK pension savers (20%) have received at least one pension communication they suspected might be a scam, rising to 32% of 18–24-year-olds, according to Heywood’s Pension Pulse 2026 research.
Action Fraud reports that £17.6 million of pension savings was lost to fraud in 2024, an average of £33,848 per victim.
Stop all contact, don’t transfer any money, and contact your pension scheme using details you already trust. Report it to Action Fraud (actionfraud.police.uk) and check the FCA’s ScamSmart warning list (fca.org.uk/scamsmart).
Explore Pension Pulse 2026 to see what UK savers told us about scams, AI, video and understanding. Discover how Heywood Engage gives members one secure place to view their pension, their documents and genuine messages from your scheme.