Clampdown on cold call companies unveiled by government

[Retro]

We've all had these sodding cold texts and calls hawking some garbage or other and quite likely fraudulent. Unfortunately, quite a lot of people fall for them. Hopefully this change in the law will reduce them.

Imposing fines of up to £500,000 on the companies behind cold calls and nuisance text messages is to become easier under changes to the law being made by the government.

The move follows tens of thousands of complaints about cold calling.

Currently, firms can only be punished if the Information Commissioner can prove a call caused "substantial damage or substantial distress".

But from 6 April, that legal requirement is to be removed.

More than 175,000 complaints were made to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) last year about nuisance calls and text messages.

I've had the fake Microsoft support call a few times too. I didn't hang up on them one time, but instead pretended to go along with them, winding them up and up. I eventually crowned it by really insulting them with language I can't possibly repeat here. Result: they lost it completely, ranting really loudly to the point the sound was distorted and they then hung up in a fit of rage. I ruined their day and I'm still satisfied about it today.

Clampdown on cold call companies unveiled by government

Companies behind cold calls and nuisance text messages are to face tougher rules after thousands of complaints about their conduct.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Tiffany]

Good, I'm glad they are coming down on these companies....so aggravating.

Funny that you took it to another level with a fake Microsoft call. Good for you!

 

[Retro]

I hate the way scams continue to proliferate despite so many countermeasures in place. And what enables them so much? Gullible people. Yes, that's it, the human factor again. For example, I've had many a fraudulent phone call, with usually either a recorded message telling me to press 1 for some alleged goodies, or someone with some hard sell BS. The solution? Just hang up on them without a word. So simple, quick and easy and they never call back, either. But no, gullible people go along with it, stupidly hoping to get whatever supposed to-good-to-be-true benefit they're hawking to them and then come a cropper.

In the end, it's not only the scammed who lose out, but the rest of us as well with higher prices, less attractive deals etc. The scammed should learn to be more vigilant. No wonder they're often too embarrased to tell anyone when it's happened to them.

So, we've now got the Online Safety Bill going through parliament, ostensibly to make the online space a safer place. However, the government has, unsurprisingly, sneaked in various unpalatable and unneeded things in there, so I'm not exactly keen on it.

Banks warn of big increase in online scams

Barclays said 77% of scams are now happening on social media, online marketplaces and dating apps.

www.bbc.co.uk