A business has been fined for making over 1.7 million nuisance calls in under a year.

It’s OK Ltd, based in Brighton, made a nuisance call on average every 20 seconds across 11 months, with evidence suggesting that the business targeted elderly individuals.

Complaints received by the Information Commissioners Office suggested that the company attempted to mislead individuals that their white goods warranties had expired, encouraging them to pay for services they didn’t need.

Among the complaints received an 82-year-old who was “bamboozled” into paying £194 for a ten-year warranty, and others who were told that their warranty had expired recently when it had actually lapsed “years ago”.

The company were fined £200,000 for their campaign of nuisance calls.

In total, 1.752 million nuisance calls were made by the company from July 2019 to the end of May 2020.

Andy Curry, head of investigations at the ICO, said: “We are always happy to support legitimate companies who want to comply with the law. Last year, we released updated direct marketing guidance to help those very businesses.

"That is, however, not what was happening here. The actions of this company represented a sustained and exploitative campaign potentially targeting the most vulnerable. Pressure tactics, misleading statements and contacting individuals who are registered on the TPS is shameful behaviour.

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"In taking this action, we say to the public that we will continue to be on your side and protect you, and we say to any other organisation operating outside of the law that we will pursue every case like this brought to us to the fullest extent.”

The nuisance calls were made to households registered with the Telephone Preference Service. It is illegal to make live marketing calls with anyone registered with the TPS unless the household has agreed to calls from specific organisations.

Residents are advised to report nuisance calls to the ICO and to contact suspected instances of fraud to Action Fraud.

The ICO say that they handed out over £2 million in fines in 2022 to companies nationwide responsible for nuisance calls, texts and emails.