British firms that breach data protection legislation by selling people’s pension pot details can get fines up to £500,000. Apparently, the authorities realized that claims that millions of individuals’ data is being sold and ending up in the hands of criminals are not a joke. One of the local privacy watchdogs has launched an investigation into such allegations.

According to media reports, information about the size of pensioners’ salaries, investments and pensions is being sold at a cheap rate without their knowledge. It seems that such financial data is purchased by fraudsters and cold-calling firms.

The investigators contacted the pensions regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority and the police, as such deeds are a very serious breach of the Data Protection Act. If the claims turn out true, the companies involved can face huge fines of up to half a million pounds.

The move comes ahead of pension reforms scheduled to 6 April. Under new rules, the savers will get access to their full retirement funds. However, the Information Commissioner’s Office warned that such changes could result in a flood of scams. Perhaps, some companies want to get their hands on pension details because not all people read the terms and conditions of contracts they sign, thus disclosing their personal data. Apparently, some firms were getting and selling on this data illegally – in some cases, details were stolen, in others they were kept instead of being deleted.

The watchdog claims that the information it has been shown supports the work conducted to target the “shady industry operating behind the nuisance of cold calls and spam texts”, and that it has already taken action against a firm sending out misleading messages.