The cold calling epidemic that’s costing victims thousands

Barbara was watching Antiques Roadshow when the phone rang. The call was from a company that had sold her insurance for some of her appliances. The man on the phone was friendly and promised a “nice saving” if she renewed her cover for another year.
She grappled to find her glasses and read out the account number and sort code from her bank card, admitting that it was “very difficult to put the glasses on with one hand”. She was clearly struggling, but the caller was patient. “You take your time, there’s no rush at all,” he said.
Within nine minutes he had persuaded Barbara to pay £265 to cover six appliances — insurance that can be found online for a lot less. But while the bad deal itself was not unlawful, the way in which it was sold was.
Barbara, whose name has been changed for protection, was a victim of a cold call — the hard-sell tactic typically targeted at the elderly and vulnerable. A redacted recording of the call was shared with The Sunday Times by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the data protection regulator.
You are supposed to be able to block sales and marketing calls by registering with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS). It is illegal for companies to contact mobile and landline numbers that are on the register without the owner’s specific consent, even if they are customers of that company. Barbara’s number is registered with the TPS, but she was still getting cold calls.
The ICO gets about 5,000 complaints about cold calling every month, many from those who have registered with the TPS. It recently fined two companies it said had targeted households in a “predatory marketing” campaign of repeated calls to pressure them into buying warranties for white goods, such as fridges and washing machines. The regulator said there was clear evidence that both companies had repeatedly targeted older people, who are more susceptible to cold calling because of their reliance on landlines.
Pensions cold calling was banned in 2019 to crack down on scammers who were using it to dupe victims out of their life savings. Last year the Conservative government said it would extend the ban to cover unsolicited calls about all financial services and products, but failed to make the change before the election.
Barbara laughed nervously throughout the call, apologising for getting her card details wrong and at times was audibly confused. The caller from We Repair UK, an appliance repair company based in Tonbridge, Kent, was a small-talk supremo.
“I don’t mind a bit of the old Antiques Roadshow myself, brings back memories that does. Whenever I was ill off school, that’s what I’d end up watching,” he said as he waited for the system to verify Barbara’s bank details.
Weeks later We Repair UK contacted her again, this time selling boiler insurance for £249 a year.
The caller followed an almost identical script to his colleague, again promising a “nice saving”. Because of an increase of engineers in her postcode, the man said, they could switch her on to a lower rate. This may have sounded like a good deal, but the ICO found many victims had been sold policies they “neither needed nor understood”.
Barbara struggled for more than a minute to read the digits on her card and confirm her bank details, and joked about numbers getting her in trouble at school. “You’re not in trouble today, that’s for sure,” he replied.
We Repair UK was fined £80,000 in October for making 42,688 unlawful and unsolicited marketing calls to households registered with the TPS. Service Box Group Limited, a repair company based in Hove, East Sussex, was fined £40,000 for making 5,361 calls. We Repair UK is appealing against the ICO’s decision.
Andy Curry, the head of investigations at the ICO, said that nuisance marketing calls caused real distress and left victims scared to answer the phone.
“We have investigated a number of companies who we believe are deliberately targeting elderly or vulnerable people because they are seen as easy pickings,” Curry said.
“It is clear from the complaints that people often feel frightened by the aggressive tactics of some of these companies, sometimes giving their bank details just so they can hang up the phone, and losing thousands of pounds to services or products they do not need.”
We Repair UK did not respond to a request for comment.
Service Box Group Limited said the calls had not been made by its internal staff, but by a small number of third party call centres, which had made assurances they would not unlawfully contact numbers registered on the TPS. Service Box Group said they immediately terminated the contracts with the call centres when they became aware of their conduct. A spokesperson said: “We deeply regret the actions of these third parties, which in no way reflect our company’s values or the practices of our employees.”
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The ICO found that people suffering from cognitive illnesses such as dementia had been sold policies they did not need or could not understand.
Curry said the accounts they heard of people being hounded by nuisance calls were harrowing. “Nobody should be made to feel uncomfortable after simply answering the phone. Our message to the public is simple — you don’t owe these callers your time or your courtesy. I encourage anyone who is being pestered by rogue operators, or knows a family member or friend who is, to report them to the ICO so we can take action.”
Caroline Abrahams from the charity Age UK said: “Cold callers often see older people, such as those who are ill or isolated, as an easy target.
“We know that cold calling is also used by scammers to offer promising-sounding deals or opportunities, but if you feel under pressure to commit, then just step away and talk it over with someone because any reputable company will allow you time to think about an offer.”
The Sunday Times asked the Treasury if it still intended to extend the ban on cold calling, but it did not respond.
In late 2020 Jonathan Young was helping his elderly parents, Martin and Mary, with their finances when he found payments of more than £2,000 made to a dozen companies for insurance policies they did not need. They had been inundated with unsolicited marketing calls, despite being registered with the TPS for more than 15 years.
“I don’t know how the first company got their number, but it was clear that it had been shared with a large number of others. My parents were sold the same products over and over again. It would be a payment of £200 one day, £250 the next day and £300 the week after,” Young, 56, said.
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He believes the companies had shared the personal details of his parents and their schedules — with many calling at the same time when they knew his father, now 83, would be asleep and his mother, 85, would be alone. “They knew she would be more susceptible on her own to their high-pressure tactics,” Young said.
He spent the next year tracking down the companies and their directors using social media and Companies House, demanding that they refund the money they had taken from his parents. “Once I got involved and the companies knew I might be in the house when they called, they disappeared at the same rate they had appeared.
“With almost all the companies I managed to get the money back. But if my parents hadn’t been registered with the TPS I would have had no recourse — that allowed me to clearly demonstrate that they had broken the law. My biggest tip for anyone worried about themselves or a loved one being targeted by cold calls is to register with the TPS immediately,” Young said.
It is free to register a phone number and once you have, companies have a legal duty not to call you, under the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. If they break the rules, the ICO can fine them.