How do we protect our most vulnerable?

ANSWERING your phone to an unknown number and being met with a fauxcheery voice trying to persuade you to buy or sign up to something is an experience most of us can relate to. Many of us are savvy enough to know when to politely end the conversation – but that isn’t always the case.

This week Cardiff-based Outsource Strategies Ltd (OSL) was fined £240,000 for making unwanted marketing phone calls. Both OSL and a London company were found to have made almost 1.43 million calls to people across the UK.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said its investigation found evidence that both firms were specifically targeting elderly and vulnerable people, and were discovered after 76 complaints were made by people saying they had tried to request that the calls cease, to no avail, and felt it was “harassment”.

The details of some of the unwanted calls are harrowing. One woman said the call was answered by her husband, who has communication difficulties and “is vulnerable and doesn’t understand not to answer the telephone. I suspect he has been sold stuff by these companies in the past. For health reasons, I need to stop them ringing…”

Another person said the caller “made me annoyed and ... anxious”, adding that they received the calls on their unlisted number and were encouraged to give card details over the phone. They refused to do this unless the firm emailed them so they could verify their credentials – something the company refused to do.

It isn’t just customers who are targeted. Western Mail investigations have previously uncovered exploitation and pressure-selling at direct sales firms which both targeted vulnerable customers and preyed on young employees who were persuaded to join with often empty promises of high financial rewards and progression.

There is no suggestion that this was the case at these newly fined companies, but we know they were targeting vulnerable customers.

Many of us are used to these calls and know how to rebuff them. But we all know someone who is elderly or otherwise vulnerable, and the idea of them being harassed is upsetting.

The fact that these firms have been punished is comforting, but it’s frustrating that it took dozens of complaints for something to be done in the first place, and illustrates just how difficult it is to police such activities.