LATEST figures show that three-quarters of the callers handled by Blackburn malicious calls bureau are male.

And of the bureau's 573 cases received each week, two-thirds of the victims are women.

The statistics, gathered last month, also revealed that in the North West, police asked British Telecom, who run the bureau, to connect an average of 120 tracing devices to telephones every week. More than 900 calls are traced at any one time.

BT say 67 malicious callers in the region have been successfully prosecuted, and a further 116 have received police cautions over the past year.

The Blackburn bureau, which opened in 1991, is one of a network of 11throughout the country. A BT spokesman said: "Using our latest technology, and working closely with the police, our teams are cracking down on the malicious calls problem.

"BT's multi-million pound annual investment in new digital telephone exchanges has made it possible to trace callers quickly and effectively.

"All the victims have to do is press a single key on their telephone and the trace is automatically made."

The spokesman added: "Even people ringing from mobile phones cannot escape the net as their phone numbers can be just as quickly identified."

Malicious caller is committing a criminal offence under Section 43 of the Telecommunications Act of 1984 and the penalty can be six months jail and/or a maximum fine of £5,000.

Anyone wanting direct help can contact the North West Malicious Calls Bureau free on 0800 661441.

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