Pensions Regulator develops AI tool to detect potentially suspicious pension websites

The Regulator, in conjunction with the Pension Scams Action Group (PSAG), has announced the development of an artificial intelligence tool to detect potentially suspicious websites aimed at pension savers.

Since the launch of the new tool, 830 websites have been reviewed, 29 high-risk sites have been taken down and 94 referrals have been made to partner agencies.

The Regulator has also published a recording of a recent webinar it hosted with partner agencies on the risk posed by pension scams and the steps being taken to tackle them. A new reporting service, "Report Fraud", which will be part of the Fraud and Cyber Crime Reporting and Analytics Service, will replace Action Fraud later this year.

The hope is that the new reporting system will deliver improvements in how intelligence is gathered, shared and analysed, as it will allow reporters to log in and track the progress of their report. In the meantime, Paul Sweeney, Intelligence Business Lead at the Regulator, encouraged schemes and members to continue to report suspicions of pension scams to Action Fraud.