Context
The ICO has issued a news item outlining that the number of complaints they have received about automated nuisance calls has almost tripled in three months, reaching its highest level since 2021.
Key points to note and next actions
- Complaints from the general public to the ICO rose from 1,374 in July to 2,178 in August, an increase of 58%, before climbing further to 69% to 3,684 in September.
- The ICO has highlighted that the sharp rise indicates the scale of the problem, and has cautioned that the true number of automated calls being made may be far higher than the complaints data suggests, with many incidents going unreported.
- There is growing concern about the use of automated and AI-enabled marketing calls (known as robo calls), as well as other calls which try to trick people into joining WhatsApp groups, share personal information or entice them into engaging with fraudulent schemes.
- The ICO is actively investigating the risk in automated calls and urges the public to report their experiences.