Government wants total ban on financial cold calling

The Government has proposed banning cold calls offering any financial products as part of its plan to tackle fraud and scams. The ban would cover all financial cold calling, including calls from FCA-authorised firms. Cold calls to sell pension products are already banned. The Government said a total ban would enable people receiving a cold call offering financial products to know that it is a scam and fewer people will become victims. Fraudulent investment schemes cost victims £750m in 2022 and 2023, according to data from the City of London Police. Andrew Griffith, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said: “Cold calling for financial services and products has long been used by fraudsters to manipulate and trick members of the public into scams. These cold-hearted criminals will often purposely target the most vulnerable and use a range of deceitful tactics to take advantage in any way they can. “We will ban cold calling for all consumer financial services and products, so the public can be sure that it’s not a legitimate firm if they get a call about a financial product out of the blue without their consent. “We want people to feel confident to put the phone down and report these illegitimate calls.” It is already against the law for organisations, including financial advisers, to make marketing calls to anyone signed up with the Telephone Preference Service - which operates a 'do not call' register - unless the individual has explicitly consented to receive the call. The ICO has issued more than £2.4bn in fines against companies responsible for nuisance calls, texts and emails in since April 2022. As part of proposed data protection law reforms, the Government has also proposed increasing the maximum fine for nuisance calls substantially from £500,000 to £17.5m. Tom Tugendhat MP, Security Minister, 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.” Tom Selby, head of retirement policy at AJ Bell, was one of the campaigners for a pensions cold calling ban in the UK. He said: “One of the benefits of a wider cold-calling ban would be that everyone is absolutely clear that if they receive a call out of the blue about their finances, they should hang up the phone. “For this cold-calling crackdown to work we need two things: tightly worded legislation, to ensure nefarious contacts are specifically targeted, and a legitimate threat of enforcement where someone breaks the new rules. The plans also need to go hand-in-hand with greater responsibility being taken by internet giants like Google for paid-for scam adverts, something which the Online Safety Bill can hopefully bring into UK legislation."

Government wants total ban on financial cold calling

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