People's private financial data, including their pension details, is ending up in the hands of potential fraudsters, all without the knowledge of the person, an investigation by the Mail on Sunday has found.

Information Commissioner Christopher Graham told the Today programme the practices exposed by the investigation were "a very serious breach of the data protection act and there will be consequences".

He urged people not to take major financial decisions "on the back of a phone call", adding that pensions selling "is really the next PPI scandal".