The Government is to ban cold-calling for all financial products as part of its beefed-up strategy to tackle financial fraud.
The ban will cover all unsolicited calls offering any financial product.
It follows a ban on cold-calling on pension products which was introduced in 2019.
The Home Office also announced today that it will set up a new fraud squad with 500 investigators.
The new National Fraud Squad will work with local and international police forces, as well as the UK intelligence services.
The current Action Fraud service will be replaced by a £30m fraud reporting service. The service will include a simpler route for reporting fraud online, reduced waiting times and an online portal to allow those reporting fraud to get updates on the progress of their case.
The Home Office said the new system will be live within a year.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, announced the additional anti-fraud measures today, said that the new rules and fraud squad would help tackle scammers who “ruin lives in seconds”.
Dean Butler, managing director for customer at Standard Life, welcomed the ban.
He said: “People have a right to know who they are dealing with and cold calling can muddy the waters creating opportunities for fraudsters.
“Building on the 2019 move to ban pension cold calling and extending it to all financial products has the potential to reduce the scourge of financial fraud which causes a great deal of pain.
“While pension fraud still exists, there is widespread recognition that the cold calling ban was a step in the right direction which ultimately has made people more cautious of unsolicited pension review calls and other tactics previously employed by some fraudsters.”
The Government said financial fraud costs the UK nearly £7bn per year, with close to nine in 10 internet users having encountered online scams.
ABI director general Hannah Gurga said: “As the single biggest type of crime in England and Wales, causing misery to millions and often affecting the most vulnerable, it’s vital that we unite in our efforts to tackle fraud as quickly as possible.
“We fully support the Government’s approach of using partnerships to harness the capabilities and resources of the public and private sector to drive out the scammers and restore people’s faith. We look forward to continuing to work with the Government on the development of a charter to make our sector more resilient to insurance fraud.”
