MSE News: 1,000s sign petition demanding ban on pensions and investment cold calling

Legacy_user

A petition calling for an end to cold callers selling pensions and investments has been backed by Martin Lewis...

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'1,000s sign petition demanding ban on pensions and investment cold calling'

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mjm3346

Shouldn't make any difference if it's pensions and investments or something else - all cold calling by telephone or in person should be banned and proper punishments imposed.

Thrugelmir

I receive calls on any number of topics except pensions and investments! Ban all cold calls. :mad::mad:

colsten

Also, people should be educated

1. in putting the phone down on unwanted callers
   
2. blocking unwanted calls
   
3. not posting their phone numbers on social media

bowlhead99

colsten wrote: »

Also, people should be educated

1. in putting the phone down on unwanted callers
   
2. blocking unwanted calls
   
3. not posting their phone numbers on social media

Providing simple educational public service messages would seem to be simpler and more practical than trying to enforce prosecutions against firms who make dodgy offers after calling you from an offshore number.

"Hey, idiot. Don't give your personal or financial details to people who cold-call you, idiot"

"Hey, idiot. Don't buy financial services from anyone who cold-calls you, because if they are doing that they definitely will *not* be regulated to provide you with financial services, idiot."

"Hey, idiot. When you give out your personal financial details and buy services from an unregulated business who cold-calls you, because you're greedy, you have to take much of the blame yourself, when you inevitably lose a big pile of your money by being involved in an unsuitable or illegal scheme. if we can't get it back for you easily, don't expect our sympathy and handouts. You're screwed, idiot."

Of course, it is not possible to entirely protect people from themselves through widely publishing simple messages, even if those messages went viral because of their outlandish patronising insulting nature.

Topical example: back in the mid nineties, the TV news, magazines and papers were full of the fact that women's state pension age was going up by a whole five years to bring it in line with men. Loads of women claim they never noticed and MSE recently supported their petition and campaign to reverse the rules some twenty years later...

So, here's another petition that Martin is supporting as a consumer champion. Sure, make another law if you like, if you think CPS has the resources to enforce unregulated financial services cold-callers any better han FCA is currently able to. But I'd be happier with better education through simple publicity and then say caveat emptor / natural selection is the way forward.

The prevalence of scammers popping up to sell dodgy services is a symptom of people being idiots, rather than the other way around.It is the sane reason email and text spam exists. If you can't stop 100% of cold callers, you have to educate people not to engage with them anyway, and once people stop engaging with them there is a lot less money in them doing what they do.

Some people will still get screwed because they are "vulnerable" (or idiots). Comes back to the "natural selection" point that you can't protect people from themselves.

Silvertabby

I don't have that much of a problem with cold callers. Don't get many - and those that do get through are easily dealt with (although some of my tactics don't half make Mr S cringe!)

LHW99

I am always amazed by how many times the same automatic message comes through and talks to my answer machine. So far the machine has been very sensible and not taken up any 'offers', but when it gets older ........

soulsaver

Thing is, people like you (us) don't need it outlawed. These scammers aren't trying to find YOU, though. They are hoping by a process of elimination to find your gran/grandad who has mentally deteriorated a bit, who is isolated but trying to maintain an independence, maybe lonely & bored; maybe wants to leave a bit more for the loved ones that don't come round that often.... and now, not so worldly wise.
It's tough to propose a good solution... but they need protecting from the scumbags.

Plus

Cold calls are just the tip of the iceberg. I wonder how much of this can be stopped by following the money.

In the case of spam or 419 scams, the spammer is sending internationally, the machines sending it belong to innocent parties but have been compromised, and there isn't much you can do if the payment goes Western Union to somewhere where it's picked up in cash.

In this case, cold calls are the initial hook, but often they lead to another operation that talks you into signing up to things you didn't intend. They look like a genuine UK outfit - maybe they rent an office somewhere, maybe a posh salesman comes to visit. The boiler room doing the cold calling may be overseas, but they put you through to a UK company and your money is moved to a UK account. Things like pension transfers require a lot of UK infrastructure.

Thus far these businesses can get away by being unregulated - and there's nothing to stop people investing there. Perhaps the way forward might be to tighten the rules on unregulated investments, and that they might use unsolicited approaches (calls or letters or emails) is a huge red flag. I get plenty of spam about property 'investment' and those depths have also been well-plumbed in the media recently. Likewise retail bonds.

How damaging would it be to insist that all investments must be regulated, to some degree?

bigadaj

The answer to the last post is that there would be a huge outcry I of human rights, accusations of big brother and people being outraged that all these things could be tracked and made accountable.

There's no logical reason why the uk shouldn't have ID cards, it would solve so many issues. The big story on the bbc about foreigners taking advantage of the NHS would be solved by this, but no, this is the uk, we can't have ID cards because we're not an authoritarian or totalitarian state.

The fact we allow eu citizens to travel on an ID card when we need a passport to enter our own country is apparently fine.

Silvertabby

How damaging would it be to insist that all investments must be regulated, to some degree?

That wouldn't stop the scammers - or the people who fall for the scams because they can't see past the £ signs in their eyes.