A forthcoming ban on cold-callers who try to scam people out of their pension savings will include emails and texts, the government has announced. Nearly 3,000 savers have been conned out of an average of £15,000 each since 2014, after fraudsters persuaded them to cash in their pensions. Certain types of cold calls, including those involving mortgages, are already banned. Now the law will be changed to include callers trying to sell pensions. Companies that do not have prior permission to contact consumers, or do not have an existing client relationship with them, will face fines of up to £500,000. But whereas the government originally proposed excluding texts and emails, it has now decided to include them within the new law. "The fact emails and text messages will also be covered by the ban means savers can be absolutely certain that if someone they don't know contacts them out of the blue about their pension, they simply should not engage with them," said Tom Selby, an analyst with AJ Bell.

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