Exeter one of UK’s top 10 nuisance call hotspots

Research by Community CallBLOCKER, a new service which allows victims of nuisance calls to block unwanted numbers, record and share them with the CallBLOCKING Community, reveals that Exeter is one of the UK’s top nuisance call hotpots.

Community CallBLOCKER, commissioned YouGov to find out the extent of the nuisance call epidemic across the nation.

Highlights for Exeter include:

64% of people in Exeter are receiving up to 15 nuisance calls a week
2% of people receiving over 20 calls a week!
38%of those polled are at breaking point, stating that unsolicited calls leave them feeling ‘stressed’, ‘bullied’ or ‘vulnerable’

The biggest nuisance call culprits are PPI calls; nearly three quarters (71%) of Exeter residents received PPI calls in the last 12 months. This is closely followed by automated marketing calls (68%) and sales calls 54%

One in 10 of those polled (9%) stated that they have been a victim of attempted fraud or know friends and families that have been victims of attempted fraud
14% have taken steps to protect themselves against telephone fraud

Hugo Sykes, creator of Community CallBLOCKER comments “Nuisance calls are clearly out of control in the UK and we know they are affecting many households’ everyday lives and causing a huge amount of distress to individuals and families. Our research shows that this is particularly acute in Exeter where 64% of people are receiving up to 15 calls a week.

Sykes continues: “It isn’t just the intrusion but also the potential criminal activity that these calls are leading to. We know from our research that one in ten of people in Exeter have either been a victim of telephone fraud, or know a friend or family member who has, and this doesn’t even account for those who may be too embarrassed to admit they’ve been defrauded.”

Nuisance calls are at an all-time high. Almost 500 complaints a day were made about nuisance calls and texts to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) last year, its annual report has revealed today. Reports about these spam communications had jumped by 12% in 2014/15 - compared with the previous year - and totalled more than 180,000.

Community CallBLOCKER’s new technology promotes ‘people power’ to solve this problem - allowing victims to take action with the option of recording and collecting evidence against offenders to bring them to justice.

Community CallBLOCKER was established by 23-year-old Oxford University engineering graduate and entrepreneur Hugo Sykes. He developed the service after his own grandparents were targeted by phone fraudsters. He created a solution to combat the problem which works by attaching a small device to a user’s telephone which not only filters nuisance calls but also actively detects and records possible fraudulent activities.

Nuisance call numbers blocked by Community members are collected in a database and are then shared with all CallBLOCKER Community members. A unique feature of Community CallBLOCKER is that it can provide a recording of the nuisance call as evidence for people to prosecute the nuisance callers and intelligently detect a range of phone scams.

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 1,479 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 23rd December 2014 - 5th January 2015. The survey was carried out online