ELDERLY ex-miners are being preyed upon by scammers who promise to boost their pension pot in exchange for cash, a pensioners’ charity has warned.

Age Cymru revealed it has been contacted by former miners in the Welsh coalfields who have received cold calls in recent weeks.

Shameless scammers have been claiming that new pension rules to be implemented in April could boost the value of miners’ pensions.

They have told former miners or their widows that they would help them cash in on the changes — for an upfront £200 payment.

Age Cymru campaigns officer Gerry Keighley is raising the alarm over the calls on tonight’s episode of BBC Wales’s watchdog programme X-Ray.

“They’ll have contacted quite a lot of people and we really do want to warn ex-miners not to be taken in by this,” he told the programme.

The claims made in the calls were investigated by the National Union of Mineworkers, which confirmed they were entirely fabricated.

“Because the rules are complicated, they’re targeting ex-miners, saying ‘this rule will apply to you and you can get extra benefits’,” south Wales area secretary Wayne Thomas told the Star yesterday.

“But once you’re in receipt of a pension, nobody can change it all.

“So it really is a scam because there’s nothing that can be changed in a pension unless you haven’t accessed it yet.”

Age Cymru warned that people can often suffer ill health or a loss of self-esteem after falling victim to scammers.

“People can be perfectly healthy, three months later they’ve gone into a care home and three months later they’ve gone,” Mr Keighley warned.

X-Ray is on BBC One Wales at 7.30pm and can be viewed on iPlayer in the rest of Britian. Miners who receive the calls are urged to contact the Citizens Advice Bureau or the NUM.