Beware cold callers who promise to BLOCK cold calls!

ELDERLY homeowners are being targeted by cold- callers selling pricey gadgets and services to block . . . cold calls.

Nearly 1,200 people have complained to the information watchdog in a year about nuisance calls and texts from firms selling call-blocking services.

Some firms are breaking the law by contacting people already registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) to opt out of unsolicited calls.

Often the devices they are selling are poor quality, experts say.

In many cases, these credit card-sized gadgets plug in between the phone and the wall socket. An electronic screen shows the numbers of incoming callers. When an unwanted call comes through, the number can be added to a blacklist so that it’s blocked if a caller tries again.

Money Mail has heard from the children of elderly and vulnerable people who have no idea how to use the devices they’ve been sold. Some have bought several versions of the same service.

We have traced many of the companies behind the calls to Bournemouth.

Last year, the director of firms based in the Dorset town was jailed for five years for defrauding hundreds of people.

Giles Ward-Best, 43, of Firbank Road, Bournemouth, traded as Telecom Protection Service Ltd, among other names, and sold call-blocker devices. From 2013 to 2015 complaints flooded in from customers, many claiming they had been mis- sold, been unable to return faulty devices or could not cancel.

Many victims found their phones were not compatible with the call-blocker, device, according to Trading Standards.

Others found the equipment stopped their phone and internet connection working or that no cold calls were stopped.

In January, the Information Commissioner’s Office fined Bognor-based, IT Protect Ltd £40,000 for cold-calling people registered on TPS to sell call-blockers.

Baroness Ros Altmann, the former pensions minister, says: ‘We need a ban on cold-calling of any kind.

‘Current rules don’t do enough to protect vulnerable older people who are being swindled out of money by firms without scruples. Their numbers can be sold from one firm to another and it causes misery.’

Carole Wiffen, of Essex, found out her 89-year old father, Brian, and late mother Jean, had paid hundreds of pounds to four different firms who had cold-called them selling ‘nuisance call-blocking’ services and gadgets they didn’t know how to use.

Carole, 56, found they bought a £125 blocking service from Home Guardian Ltd, of Bournemouth. Brian had no recollection of signing up until he had a call in July demanding a ‘final payment’.

Carole says: ‘My father was very confused and the only explanation is that my mother could have signed up in 2013 just before she died of cancer. She would have been taking morphine and wasn’t in her right mind.’

Then Carole found out her father had been sold a £125 call-blocking device in March by Home Safety Division, again based in Bournemouth. A similar item is available online for £ 35. Brian’s bank managed to get the payment returned to him.

Call Companion Ltd, another Bournemouth firm, had also signed Brian up for its information line for £99 a year.

It includes something called Nuisance Aware to help stop cold-callers.

A fourth company, which Carole cannot trace, charged Brian £99 in November for call-blocking.

In total, Carole fears her parents paid out more than £450 to callblocking firms.

‘It makes me so angry that these companies are preying on elderly people who don’t understand what they are buying,’ she says.

‘Many older people don’t have relatives to fight their corner.’

Jayne White, 56, found her mother-in-law had paid more than £300 to two cold-call companies, also based in Bournemouth.

The 86-year- old was last year contacted by Caller Complaint Service, which took a one- off payment of £198.99 for its caller protection service.

Jayne’s mother-in-law had also spent £125 for Home Guardian’s call-blocking service. ‘She was upset and didn’t understand what she was paying for,’ Jayne says.

Both Carole’s father and Jayne’s mother- in- law have been registered with TPS since 2004, which means it is against the law for firms to call to sell them anything without being invited.

Citizens Advice says it has seen many call blockers which either do not work properly or are part of an over-priced subscription.

Stephen Morris, director of Call Companion, a trading name of SDM Assist, says it buys phone numbers from data firms which are supposed to check whether their owners are on the TPS.

He says: ‘We are carrying out an internal investigation in an effort to prevent this happening again.’

Mr Morris added that Mr Hart seemed to understand the service and that as soon a complaint was received the cash was refunded.

Jackson Baker, director of Home Guardian Ltd, says: ‘Both customers have been refunded in full.

‘We have very strict protocols in place to stop these situations from happening. From time to time a vulnerable customer does slip through the net. On the rare occasion it has happened our policy is an immediate refund and a letter of apology.’

Caller Complaint Service says it is no longer taking on new customers and will write to Jayne’s mother-in-law to apologise and refund her payment. Home Safety Division declined to comment.