Call-blocking trial ‘positive’
It’s a ‘‘bit soon’’ to talk about Government funding for call-blocking units that have been trialled nationwide, says Minister for Seniors Tracey Martin.
The Commission for Financial Capability last week released a report outlining the results of a nationwide trial of 11 trueCall units, which plug into landline phones and block all recorded messages, silent calls and calls from numbers not pre-identified by the homeowner.
Those results show that of all calls received during the trial, between July and November, about 30 per cent were nuisance or scam calls, of which 98 per cent were blocked.
Martin this week said the early results of the trueCall trial ‘‘seem positive, although it’s worth noting that 11 units is a very small sample size’’.
‘‘I welcome any technology that helps our seniors be safe from potential fraud, and helps them be able to enjoy the peace and quiet of their own homes without harassment,’’ Martin said.
‘‘As for what next, I will be keeping a close eye on how the commission’s efforts progress, noting that it is still very early days.’’
The commission had ‘‘made it clear that in its view the next mark of progress is telecommunication companies to fund the units for its vulnerable customers’’.
‘‘So it’s a bit soon to talk about Government funding for this type of initiative,’’ Martin said.
Commission fraud education manager Bronwyn Groot said scam calls were a growing problem ‘‘and this device is now a proven weapon in the fight against them’’.
The nationwide trial followed the success of a unit installed in the home of Nelson couple Cecilie and Graham Dyer, who had been receiving dozens of nuisance calls a month.
Cecilie Dyer said the couple had not received one unwanted call since March 2018 when Groot hooked up the British device.
In Britain, the Government allocated £500,000 to install trueCall devices in the homes of elderly and vulnerable people.
When the report on the trial was released, Groot said: ‘‘I would love for a telco in this country to pick up trueCall and offer the device for free to their vulnerable customers.’’
A spokeswoman for Spark said the company was aware of the success of the trueCall device and ‘‘has been reviewing the possibility of introducing it in New Zealand for a little while’’.
As the trial was about to get under way in July, Martin said she would be interested in the outcome, ‘‘particularly in terms of how it might help seniors’’.