FIVE companies who made thousands of unwanted marketing calls to “older, vulnerable people” must pay fines totalling £405,000.
Some of those targeted suffered from dementia, the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) said.
One of those who complained to the watchdog described the cold-call as “threatening and coercive”.
The ICO says it is continuing to investigate a number of other companies.
The calls involved the sale of insurance products or services for white goods and other large household appliances, such as televisions, washing machines and fridges.
“It has made me really ill, they keep calling and have taken money from me. I am an elderly woman”, one of those targeted wrote in a complaint.
Another person wrote that their mother-in-law had received a cold call designed “to persuade an elderly vulnerable person with old age memory loss to take out unneeded insurance on equipment”.
The mother-in-law “is unable to arrange her own affairs” the complainant reported.
The data privacy watchdog said companies were deliberately targeting older people when buying marketing data lists from third parties.
The companies were specifically asking for personal information about people who are aged 60 and over, homeowners and with landline numbers, the ICO said.
John Edwards, UK Information Commissioner, wrote in a statement: “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”.
Mr Edwards warned companies employing these tactics to expect a strong response and encouraged anyone pestered by such calls to report their concerns to the ICO.