How to prevent scam calls from reaching the public, while allowing ‘legitimate and beneficial’ communications from businesses? The answer as raised in a HM Treasury consultation document: a ban cold calling for consumer financial services and products.
That sends ‘the simple message that anyone contacting them to sell financial services products in an unsolicited manner is acting unlawfully’, according to the document. Too broad scope to such a ban, the consultation admits, ‘could negatively impact business practices’.
In a foreword, Andrew Griffith, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said that any unsolicited calls to market a financial product should be viewed as scams, and the public should feel empowered to put the phone down and report these calls. “This will stop
the fraudsters dead in their tracks and prevent the emotional and financial harm that cold calling can cause,” he wrote.
The consultation says that the Government is already working alongside the telecoms regulator Ofcom to stop spoof calls; and the data protection watchdog the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for the first five months of 2023 stated that around 1,200 cases of nuisance calls and messages relating to investments were reported to the ICO. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), too, has some powers around cold calling about financial promotions, by those it authorises. As the document admits ‘these overlapping rules can cause a lack of clarity’.
The document admits that the Government has made ‘various prohibitions and restrictions on cold calling for financial services and products’. In 2019, due to scams via phone calls, the UK Government banned companies making unwanted, unsolicited phone calls to people about their pensions. But as the consultation puts it, ‘fraudsters are sophisticated and will divert their attention to target individuals’ assets in other ways’; such as, insurance services for white goods home appliances such as an extended boiler warranty. Other methods of reaching consumers may include social media, via video and voice calls; the consultation asks what social media firms are doing to protect users. And door-to-door sales continue to be used by some fraudsters, the consultation admits.
Launching the document alongside the Treasury, Home Office Security Minister Tom Tugendhat said: “Fighting fraud is at the heart of our campaign to fight crime. The National Economic Crime Victim Care Unit and the cold calling consultation are delivering on our pioneering Fraud Strategy. Fraud doesn’t just lead to financial loss, it can destroy confidence and lead to severe stress. That’s why it’s so important that victims get the best possible care and support.
“The cold calling consultation is an important step forward in our efforts to block fraud at source. It will have a major impact once it is in force.”
As the document points out, if you receive any suspicious emails, you can send them to law enforcement via the National Cyber Security Centre’s Suspicious Email Reporting Service.
