Case Studies

Nuisance, cold calls

by Mark Rowe

More than four out of five of the calls old people received during a trial of monitoring devices were nuisance calls, says Safer Derbyshire. The community safety body liaised with Derbyshire Police to select seven residents to take part in the pilot scheme trial between February and August.

During that time the seven received a total of 1566 calls, of which 1300 (83pc) were unsolicited or cold calls blocked by the device. The authorities have now approved £5,000 to expand the project to residents with a referral from the county’s adult care or community safety teams or the police.

Derbyshire County Council Cabinet Member for Health and Communities Councillor Dave Allen said: “I was absolutely amazed to see the findings of this pilot scheme which show the extent of this problem which targets older and vulnerable people in their own homes. We’re committed to tackling this kind of practice and are keen to investigate new ways to help residents to protect their savings and pensions and fight back against fraud. Projects like our Trusted Trader scheme to help people find reputable businesses have proved hugely popular and I’m very happy to approve further funding for this project to help protect vulnerable residents.”

Call blocking devices fit onto a home phone line and feature a call screening service which enables the homeowner to accept or reject certain types of calls. They can also stop certain kinds of call being received altogether such as anonymous or silent calls and calls from automated diallers – the kind favoured by telemarketers and scammers. Calls from friends, family and other recognised numbers can be pre-programmed and allowed through to be answered as normal.

Some blockers feature a recorded message inviting the caller to contact a family member or other carer on an alternative number.

Research published by Financial Fraud Action UK suggests that almost a third of the UK population receives at least ten cold calls a month with around 40pc suspecting that a call was fraudulent or suspicious. People with dementia are particularly at risk from agreeing to order goods and services they don’t need from persistent sales people and scammers.

The county adds that it’s funding the cost of the project with ‘Proceeds of Crime’ money recovered from convicted criminals and allocated to trading standards.

You can raise any concern about any kind of fraud with Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or visit www.actionfraud.police.uk.

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