Cold calls selling financial products set to be banned by government

Cold calls which cheat people out of their money by tricking them into buying fake investments are to be banned under government plans to be announced next week.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says the move is needed to “prevent fraudsters from infiltrating their way into people’s lives in the first place.” The aim is to extend a current ban which stops cold calls about pension products so it covers calls selling any financial product.

The ban on pension products aims to make anyone receiving such a call confident enough to hang up and report the fraudster.

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“Scammers devastate lives and livelihoods, preying on people’s fears to cheat them out of their money," said Mr Sunak. “To clamp down on these crimes, we have to prevent fraudsters from infiltrating their way into people’s lives in the first place.

“That’s why we’re stopping scams at source by taking away the routes used to target victims, keeping people safe and shielding them from the criminals responsible.”

Home Secretary Suella Braverman called the perpetrators of these calls 'the lowest of the low'. She added: “They seek to rob people of their hard-earned money through deception and exploitation, and relentlessly search for new ways to trick people.

“Banning cold calls and stopping fraudsters using technology is the start in our fightback against these cowards who hide in the shadows.”

Once in force, people receiving a call offering them products, such as sham crypto currency schemes or types of insurance, will know that it must be a scam, helping to stop people falling victim to fraudsters trying to dupe them. It comes after developments in modern technology have opened up new ways for