A massive hike in the proportion of nuisance and scam calls has been recorded as fraudsters exploit the coronavirus crisis.
The findings were made following a call blocker programme funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
National Trading Standards led a campaign to install more than 1,000 free call blocker units in homes occupied by people with an average age of 75. Around 23 scam and nuisance calls were typically prevented from reaching call blocker users every month.
By comparison, most people are thought to receive around seven scam or nuisance calls per month. The call blocker units were supplied by trueCall Secure and allow calls through from a “trusted caller list”.
National Trading Standards said that additional data provided by trueCall shows that, in April 2020, 10% of calls received by trueCall devices were scam or nuisance calls. By October 2020, that figure had climbed to 35%, marking a 250% increase in the proportion of dubious calls.
Louise Baxter, head of the National Trading Standards scams team, said: “Our report provides further evidence that people over the age of 70 are far more likely to be preyed on by nuisance callers – and that this can have a detrimental effect on their emotional and physical wellbeing.”
TrueCall managing director Steve Smith said: “The opportunities for scammers are much greater as people are less familiar with new procedures associated with vital services, such as Covid testing and Covid vaccinations.
“Scammers exploit this uncertainty and manipulate individuals by charging fees for false home testing kits or deceiving people into paying for non-existent vaccines.”
Most common scam call types identified involved insurance being offered for white goods such as fridges, freezers and washing machines; fraudsters impersonating legitimate organisations such as the NHS, BT, Amazon, and water companies; and offers of fake goods and scams involving domestic home repairs such as boiler servicing and drainage work.
The devices have helped the team identify 147 individuals and the telephone numbers associated with breaches have been shared with enforcement partners for further investigation, National Trading Standards said.
People are also being encouraged to protect themselves, friends and neighbours by joining Friends Against Scams, which provides free online training. To date, nearly 700,000 people have signed up.
