Cold calls offering financial products will be banned as part of a government crackdown on fraud following evidence that millions of people are being targeted each week.
Once the ban is in force, anyone being offered phoney cryptocurrency schemes or fraudulent insurance can assume they are a scam.
More than 40 million adults in the UK were the target of a scam text or call in just three months, according to research by regulator Ofcom.
Cold calls offering pension products are already illegal, and the latest announcement effectively extends these powers.
The move follows warnings that people living with conditions such as dementia are “sitting ducks for financial abuse” because of gaps in the existing law.
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Technological developments have presented new ways for criminals to prey on people, often by posing as a relative or a legitimate business.
The government will also tackle “text farms” – electronic boxes made up of bundles of sim cards which are used by fraudsters to send out thousands of fraudulent texts, seemingly from trusted brands, simultaneously.
Common scams include messages purporting to be from the Royal Mail seeking to rearrange a delivery, or from a bank, instructing someone to transfer their money.
The prime minister Rishi Sunak said: “Scammers devastate lives and livelihoods. We have to prevent fraudsters from infiltrating their way into people’s lives in the first place.”
