Meet Jamie Cartledge, whose company bought data lists so that it could specifically try to rip-off the elderly.
It is one of five businesses that have just been fined for using cold callers to try to flog warranties or repair schemes for boilers and white goods such as washing machines.
All five made illegal unsolicited phone sales calls to people registered with the Telephone Preference Service.
Cartledge’s business, Brighton-based Repair Plans UK Limited, has been fined £70,000 for more than 21,000 illegal calls made last year. It bought lists of people aged over 60 who were homeowners and had a landline.
Another Brighton company, Allapplianceservices UK Ltd, must pay £85,000 for making almost 100,000 illegal marketing calls. One of its victims had dementia, another had suffered a stroke. Its directors are Joshua Arghiros and Leeroy Zarghani.
Company number three is Utility Guard Limited of Chichester, West Sussex – for some reason the south coast is the epicentre of this scam.
This company, run by 28-year-old Richard Singh, must pay £20,000 for making almost 2,000 unsolicited calls.
The biggest offenders were Boiler Cover Breakdown Limited and Boiler Breakdown Limited, run by Tony Copland, 63, and Christopher Keown, 32, from Sutton, Surrey. Their two companies shared the same phone lines and made almost 360,000 illegal calls.
A relative of one 82-year-old woman who was targeted said: “The caller said that my mother’s boiler breakdown cover was in need of renewal even though this is not the case.
“I was present when she received the call from them about the so-called policy, I could sense that she was getting quite confused and flustered.”
Copland and Keown’s companies were fined a combined sum of £260,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Its head of investigations, Andy Curry, said: “The pressure tactics, and sometimes false or misleading statements these companies used were completely unacceptable.
“To be made to feel as though you have to hand over your bank details simply to get someone off the phone is nothing short of shameful, and that is why we have taken action against these companies.”
The advice it gives is: “Be bold. You do not owe these callers your time, your courtesy nor your money.
“So, hang up and report any nuisance calls you receive to the ICO using our online nuisance calls reporting tool.”
investigate@mirror.co.uk
