BLOCK OUT COLD CALLERS WITH THESE NIFTY TRICKS

YOU can put an end to the blight of nuisance calls with the latest technology.

Households were bombarded with 3.9 billion of these calls and text messages last year — the equivalent of 7,420 every minute, according to communications watchdog Ofcom.

To fight back, register your phone number with the Telephone Preference Service online at tpsonline.org.uk or by calling 0345 070 0707.

Once your number is on this list, it is illegal for companies to cold call you. And thanks to a rule change this month, firms chasing PPI or personal injury claims now need to have your express permission before they can call you.

But the rules don’t apply to call centres based abroad and won’t deter fraudsters who are breaking the law anyway. If you are with BT, you can sign up for BT Protect, a free service which will block calls from any number on a list of known nuisance callers.

Sky customers can sign up for its free Talk Shield service and TalkTalk offers a similar option, CallSafe.

You could also buy a TrueCall gadget, a call blocker which plugs in between your phone and the wall socket.

It also intercepts calls to request that the caller states their name before being put through. It costs about £100 from truecall.co.uk, or call 0800 0 336 330.

You can buy a phone with built-in call screening. Try a BT Decor 2600 Premium Nuisance Call Blocker for £34.99. Or download the free TPS Protect app to block nuisance calls on your smartphone.