- It is problematic and in some cases even illegal, says Martin Sollén, lawyer at the Consumer Agency.

According to him, the sellers' suggestions that you are at risk of ID-hijacking may constitute unfair marketing.

- We have seen examples where very pushy sellers make it sound like you are personally particularly exposed, or that there is even an attack on you. And that if you sign the service, such an attack can be stopped. 

- As a consumer, it is important to know that none of these services can prevent an ID cut, says Martin Sollén to SVT's consumer editorial Plus. 

More and more people are fooled

Statistics from the Swedish Consumer Agency are now showing increased dissatisfaction with these services.

During the period January-April 2020, the Swedish Consumer Agency received 235 complaints against this type of company, and in total the agency's service "Hello consumer" and the municipal consumer advisors received 481 complaints.

It can be compared with September-December 2019 with 112 notifications and 476 complaints. During May-August 2019, 76 applications and 313 complaints were received.

A company stands out

By far the most complaining customers in the past year have the Nordic Guard Group, with 78 notifications and 258 complaints.

In addition to using what the Swedish Consumer Agency describes as misleading sales methods, the Nordic Monitoring Group has also tied up customers for three-year subscriptions.

"We see everything over a year of binding time for these services as an unfair contract terms," ​​says Martin Sollén, who is currently conducting a supervisory case against the company. 

The company regrets

In an email to Plus, Marcus Ericsson, Sales Manager at the Nordic Monitoring Group, regrets that they have so many dissatisfied customers. He writes that the company has now ended the cooperation with another company that made the telephone calls.

Marcus Ericsson also writes that the company has changed its binding period to one year, but has not wanted to answer whether the customers who are bound to three years will have shortened contract periods.

Have you been tricked by a phone salesman? Or do you have insight into the industry? Photo: SVT

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