Watchdog are investigating claims that millions of pension data is being sold to fraudsters and cold-calling firms.

The Daily Mail reported that firms are selling information such as salaries, pension and investment values for as little as 5p to external companies without consent.

Investigating the paper’s claims is information commissioner Christopher Graham who told the BBC the claims were “very serious” adding "There are lots of people out there who are trying to take advantage of leads that they get to sell you stuff.”

"In this particular area with large sums of money at stake because of pensions liberalisation, the very simple message is don't take big financial decisions on the back of a phone call."

Changes to rules, which will allow pensioners to access their full pension amounts, come into play on April 6th may result in more people being conned, according the ICO.

Head of enforcement at the ICO, Steve Eckersley said the information being sold could be used to target people "at a critical point in their financial lives" and warned of a potentially "huge spike" in scam texts and calls, adding, "a frequent disregard of laws that are in place specifically to protect consumers" and said the ICO would "be launching an investigation immediately".

"We're aware of allegations raised against several companies involved in the cold-calling sector, and will be making inquiries to establish whether there have been any breaches of the Data Protection Act or Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.”

Fines of up to £500,000 can be issued by the ICO for serious cases and chase criminal prosecutions around illegally purchasing personal data.