Five companies have been fined more than £400,000 after they targeted the elderly with "predatory" marketing calls.
The UK privacy watchdog said the "coercive" calls pushed victims into buying unnecessary insurance that they didn’t need.
Some of the people who were targeted had dementia or were too elderly to manage their finances, according to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
Others were found to have direct debits going out to more than a dozen companies, meaning they would’ve lost thousands of pounds.
The ICO said some victims were made to feel pressured into giving bank details by the pushy callers.
They were also on the Telephone Preference Service which is a register for people who don’t want marketing calls.
The companies that were fined had been purchasing marketing data lists of people who were aged 60 and over, were homeowners, and had landline phones, the watchdog ruled.
According to the ICO the companies fined were:
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Domestic Support Ltd (DSL), based in Littlehampton, West Sussex, which made 69,133 unwanted marketing calls to people registered with the TPS between January 2020 and July 2020 and was fined £80,000.
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Home Sure Solutions Ltd (HSSL), based in Hove, East Sussex, which made 229,483 unwanted marketing calls to people registered with the TPS between March 2020 and September 2020 and was fined £100,000.
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Seaview Brokers Ltd, based in Chichester, West Sussex, which made 4,737 unwanted marketing calls to people registered with the TPS in June 2020 and was fined £15,000.
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UK Appliance Cover Ltd, based in London, which made 39,167 unwanted marketing calls to people registered with the TPS between June 2020 and December 2020 and was fined £100,000.
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UK Platinum Home Care Services Ltd, based in London, which made 412,556 unwanted marketing calls to people registered with the TPS between March 2020 and October 2020 and was fined £110,000
Do you know someone who has fallen victim to a pressured marketing call? Let us know: mirror.money.saving@mirror.co.uk
Julie in Yorkshire was asked by her brother to look at his finances after he started to receive a high number of calls.
She told the ICO: "Almost immediately, I noticed a lot of monthly direct debits for white goods insurance policies. Some were duplicate payments for the same goods, and there were one-off payments worth £300.
"I was disgusted that my brother was being ripped off and targeted by nuisance callers. I made an appointment with his bank and, thankfully, they reimbursed the money lost.
"I also made a complaint to Action Fraud about these firms. It is extremely upsetting that my older brother has been preyed upon and manipulated by these rogue companies in his own home."
The ICO watchdog is investigating a number of other companies that it believes are operating in the same way.
It believes hundreds of thousands of coercive calls are being made by similar businesses.
John Edwards, UK information commissioner, said: “These are unlawful predatory marketing calls that were targeted at some of the most vulnerable members of our society and driven purely by financial gain.
“It is clear from the complaints we received that people felt frightened and distressed by the aggressive tactics of these companies, sometimes giving their financial details just so they could hang up the phone.
“This is unacceptable and clearly exploitative. It is only right that we take tough and prompt action to punish those companies responsible using our full powers.”
The ICO recommends signing up to the Telephone Preference Service for free to help stop unwanted marketing calls.
If you are receiving nuisance calls, you can report it to the ICO using its online tool.
