The Personal Investment Management & Financial Advice Association (PIMFA) has announced the launch of a new initiative to help safeguard savers against investment scams.

The campaign is to sit under the umbrella of PIMFA’s existing Financial and Mental Wellbeing campaign, and will be sharing resources to help warn and encourage savers to be vigilant, as well as seek professional advice when making decisions about their financial futures.

The initiative will build on the ongoing work PIMFA has already undertaken on investment fraud, and the trade association indicated it has also been launched in response to concerns that fraudsters are capitalising on the financial vulnerability of some consumers amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The trade association said it will produce advice on how to avoid scams, which will cover the personal and financial information that wealth managers and financial advisers would never seek from clients through different forms of communication.

PIMFA suggested more work is needed to ensure consumers are protected from financial predators who prey on them – costing them on average 22 years’ pensions savings, or almost three times their annual earnings.

PIMFA chief executive, Liz Field, commented: “With so much market volatility and uncertainty, millions of consumers will be understandably concerned about their savings, investments and pensions and will also be looking for guidance, advice and information.

“The current uncertainty resulting from the coronavirus outbreak, and what may look like quite frightening losses among savers’ portfolios, could lead to some consumers making rash decisions, or being taken in by scams that might offer them the chance to recoup those losses more quickly.

“Ensuring that consumers get suitable professional advice is central to the work that PIMFA carries out. We will always advocate for the benefits of consumers receiving professional, regulated advice wherever possible to help protect their financial futures and it will remain one of the core pillars of what we do. Ultimately, the advice remains the same: If it looks too good to be true, it almost certainly is.”

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