An astonishing 43,000 nuisance phone calls, texts and emails are sent every minute in Britain by cold calling claims companies, pension liberation scammers and investment fraudsters.
Consumers are plagued with nuisance calls – each of us receives 468 calls or texts a year, claims research by financial firm LV=.
That adds up to wasting a whole working day every year dealing with hanging up on cold calls and deleting texts and messages.
The survey also found a third of people receive more nuisance calls and texts than they do calls from friends or family.
Added together 60 million nuisance calls and texts are made every day.
£500,000 fines
The insurance company says half the calls are from claims management companies touting for business on the promise of no win, no fee, but more than 80% of the consumers called have never had an accident for which they can claim compensation.
Last year, the Information Commissioner picked up more than 180,000 complaints about irritating calls from lawyers and financial advisers.
The problem is so bad, the government proposes to fine persistent offenders up to £500,000 for making nuisance contact with consumers – but few in the industry think the fine is big enough to deter cold callers.
Martin Milliner, claims director of LV= car insurance, said: “These calls and texts are annoying for millions of consumers which is bad enough, but the other side of the coin is that these people are desperate for work and often persuade consumers into making false claims.
“More than 1,500 people claim compensation for whiplash injuries in car accidents every day, but the figure outweighs the number of accidents and is higher as a percentage of claims for accidents than any other country in Europe.”
Warnings about bogus advisers – Worldwide
Bogus adviser alerts on the International Organisation of Securities Commissions web site:
- Bulls & Bears Traders / Bulls and Bears LLC – Canada
- Nix Investment – Canada
- Trent Offshore Int – Austria
- Immobiles Inv – Austria
- Management &Tourism Informations Technology Ltd – Austria
- Ashoka Capital Markets – Luxembourg
Warnings about bogus advisers – UK
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) web site has these warnings this week:
- Stanley Ball Limited (Clone web site)
Dealing with an unregulated firm
If you buy shares, save money or invest with an unregulated firm, you lose any protection offered by the Financial Ombudsman and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Broadly, you have no independent place to complain if the deal goes wrong and are unlikely to win any compensation.
Checking if a firm is regulated
Go to the Financial Services Register to check if a firm is regulated in the UK.
Reporting a suspected bogus adviser
Find out how to report unauthorised advisers on the FCA web site
