Spain-based pair Alan Barratt, 62, and Susan Dalton, 66, who tricked 245 people into transferring their pension pots into fraudulent schemes, were last week put behind bars for their crimes.

Mr Opperman said their sentencing was “good news for pension savers and law-abiding citizens across the country”.

Barratt and Dalton were part of a criminal enterprise which persuaded people to transfer their pension savings, worth around £55,000 on average and with a total value of £13.7 million, into the scam schemes.

Mr Opperman said: “These scammers deceived hundreds of savers, depriving them of security in retirement through their despicable actions. As minister for pensions, one of my key priorities is making sure people are protected from the devastating impact of pension cons and the callous crooks responsible for them.”

He said pension trustees have already been given new powers to intervene if they “suspect someone’s hard-earned pension savings will end up in a fraudster’s grubby fingers”.

The Government’s Online Safety Bill, he added, will crack down on “dodgy adverts” which “lure people into these rip-offs”.