Two companies have been fined for making hundreds of thousands of nuisance phone calls to vulnerable people in a bid to sell home improvement works. Thermotech Wall and Loft Surveys Ltd (TWLS) has been fined £240,000 by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for making unlawful marketing calls to people who had asked not to be contacted. Jacksons Marketing Ltd (JML) was also fined £130,000 by the ICO for unlawful marketing calls selling home improvements. Victims received dodgy phone calls about loft insulation, home surveys and government grants. The ICO said vulnerable people were left 'scared to answer their own phones' as the businesses continually used 'robo-calls' to deceive their vulnerable victims. Robo-calls are automated phone calls. Scammers use avatar software technology which gives call recipients the impression they are talking to someone from the UK. But the calls are in fact scripted lines recorded by voice actors and played by call agents abroad. Over a six-month period, TWLS made 575,000 calls to numbers registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), often using robo-call software operated through overseas call centres. The ICO received complaints from victims of TWLS who received multiple calls a day from them, even after explicitly telling TWLS to stop. The ICO received multiple complaints from concerned victims. One TWLS victim told the ICO: 'I'm a vulnerable pensioner...please stop.'Another victim said: 'These people keep calling on my landline phone. The calls scare me. I don't like them. I am a disabled older woman and I do not like these calls.' One victim told the ICO: 'The caller is relentless. Calling multiple times a day and changing last four digits every time I block their number. It needs to be stopped.' Thomas Vickrage, from Bournmouth, is a director at TWLS. The ICO suspected he also directed the activities of JML. The ICO investigation uncovered WhatsApp messages between Vickrage and an overseas call centre in which he encouraged agents to dial numbers registered with the TPS. The messages also revealed plans to set up a phoenix company to continue operations if complaints were received. In a series of WhatsApp messages, Vickrage said: 'Yeah but new company no complaints.'The recipient said: 'You mean use TPS data until we get pinged and then close and repeat?'Vickrage replied: 'Haha it's a good way to keep the money rolling for everyone.' This is Money contacted TWLS for comment. Fined: Thermotech Wall and Loft Surveys Ltd has been fined £240,000 by the Information Commissioner's Office for making unlawful phone callsJacksons Marketing made more than 200,000 unlawful callsThe ICO found that JML, which has overdue accounts, made 230,000 calls to TPS-registered numbers during an 11-month period. Again, the dodgy phone calls concerned loft insulation, surveys and government grants. Victims told the ICO that callers suggested their existing insulation could be hazardous to health and dangerous, and that their personal details had been provided by the government, both of which were false. One victim told the ICO: '[They] said we could get a government grant to insulate our home. He would send a surveyor around to see how much heat loss we had and would give us a discount on any work that needed carrying out.'Andy Curry, ICO head of investigations, said: 'These companies targeted some of the most vulnerable in our society - they called older people and those who had clearly asked to be left alone, leaving them frightened to answer their own phones. That is completely unacceptable.'We will not hesitate to take action against those who exploit people in this way, and we will follow the evidence wherever it leads - including to those who try to evade accountability by creating new companies when complaints mount up.'Both companies were registered in England, JML in Hampshire and TWLS in London. They used call centres in Bournemouth and overseas to carry out their operations. Alongside the fines, both companies were issued with enforcement notices ordering them to stop making marketing calls without consent. What are the rules?The rules are clear. Organisations making live marketing calls must not call numbers registered with the TPS unless they have the person's prior consent to do so.Businesses making automated calls face even stricter rules - consent must be freely given, specific and informed, and given directly to the caller. How to protect yourself from nuisance phone calls Register your landline or mobile number with the TPS free of charge at tpsonline.org.uk. This tells organisations you do not want to receive marketing calls.If you receive a nuisance phone call, report it. You can report it to the ICO via its free online reporting tool. Refer any complaints about fraud or scams to Action Fraud or Police Scotland, complaints about a business's practices to Trading Standards through Citizens Advice, and complaints about silent or abandoned phone calls to Ofcom.