Source: National Training Standards published on this site Thursday 12th July 2018 by Jill Powell
Telephone scammers who target vulnerable and elderly consumers with scams and nuisance telephone calls have been stopped in their tracks, with a National Trading Standards project blocking more than 100,000 unwanted calls in less than a year.
The half-a-million-pound project, announced by Prime Minister Theresa May last April and funded by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, was coordinated by the National Trading Standards Scams Team and supported by local Trading Standards departments and saw over 99% of unwanted calls blocked over an 11-month period.
Over 1,500 trueCall call blocking devices were provided to potentially vulnerable consumers as part of the project, including consumers with dementia and those deemed to be most at risk of receiving scams and nuisance calls. Members of the public were also invited to apply for call blockers via the Friends Against Scams website – run by National Trading Standards to help people spot and report scams.
Throughout the project, which ran between May 2017 and April 2018, a total of 108,918 calls were blocked. A survey of those who had received the call blocker devices found that three quarters (75%) of participants reported they no longer feel at risk of falling victim to telephone scams.
The trueCall call blocker devices completely block all recorded messages, silent calls and calls from numbers not already pre-identified by the home owner – offering particular protection to those with dementia.
Prior to the project, 79% of participants felt worried by unwanted phone calls and 60% felt threatened or scared about receiving calls. After the blockers were installed, these figures fell to 17% and 10% respectively.