ICO fines spam-happy companies £600,000

ronjor · Jan 13, 2018

By Charlie Osborne for Zero Day | January 12, 2018

The UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has fined four companies for spamming their customers with unwanted texts and calls.
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guest · Jul 6, 2018

South Wales firm fined £60,000 for nuisance pay day loan texts
July 6, 2018
https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/ne...fined-60-000-for-nuisance-pay-day-loan-texts/

A South Wales firm has been fined £60,000 by the Information Commissioner for allowing its lines to be used to send spam texts to more than 270,000 people, without their consent.

A total of 274,423 unsolicited text messages promoting pay day loans were sent between November 2016 and January 2017 via SIM cards registered to STS Commercial Limited of Bridgend, which was against the law. The company, which is registered as an IT service provider, had previously been linked to another investigation by the ICO into other similar practices.

In responding to a notice from the ICO, the network later reported receiving 268 complaints through its spam reporting system during this period.

The Commissioner’s investigation revealed that STS relied on the consent of a third party but did not carry out sufficient due diligence checks to ensure that the data complied with the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR). Neither the third party nor STS could provide evidence to support this.
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Reality · Jul 6, 2018

Good!

guest · Aug 2, 2018

Nuisance Call Firm Hit with £100K ICO Fine
August 02, 2018
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/nuisance-call-firm-hit-with-100k/

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined yet another marketing firm for nuisance calls which broke privacy and communications laws.

It has levied a £100,000 fine against East Sussex-based AMS Marketing, which made the calls to tens of thousands of individuals who had specifically opted out by registering with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).

“Firms that buy in lists of data are duty-bound to check whether people are registered with the TPS,” a spokesperson for the watchdog said.

“Firms that fail to make the proper checks, do so at their peril. The ICO can and will take action.”
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guest · Aug 9, 2018

Mind behind 16.7m nuisance call menace cops six-year boss ban
August 09, 2018
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/09/marketing_menace_banned/

A company boss whose business was fined £260,000 for making 16.7 million automated marketing calls has been banned from holding directorships for six years.

Shaun Harkin, 48, from Coventry and the sole director at Easyleads Ltd, was pulled over hot coals by the Information Commissioner's Office on 21 September last year for being a nuisance caller.

"Easyleads plagued people with calls and we brought them to account by fining them £260,000. When they failed to pay, we refused to give up," said ICO head of investigations Andy Curry.
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Reality · Aug 9, 2018

Are you kidding me, a little 6 year slap on the wrist! this guy should've been jailed for causing a plague and refusing to pay the fine - and robo marketing calls are just that. A rotten plague.

guest · Aug 22, 2018

Rights Group: Government Must Act on Nuisance Calls
August 22, 2018
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/demands-government-take-action/

A leading consumer rights group is urging the government to come good on its promise to clamp down on the growing epidemic of nuisance calls.

Privacy regulator the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has slapped huge fines on companies like Keurboom Communications (£400K), Miss-Sold Products UK (£350K), Your Money Rights (£350K) and more over the past year.

However, too often the directors behind these companies escape punishment by declaring bankruptcy, only to set up new businesses.

“The government must seize this opportunity and act swiftly to deliver on its promise to stamp out dodgy practices and make sure that those responsible for making nuisance calls can no longer evade justice and skip fines.”
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guest · Sep 5, 2018

Everything DM gets direct message slap: Marketing biz cops £60k ICO fine
September 5, 2018
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/09/05/ico_slaps_marketing_biz_with_60k_fine/

A scurrilous marketing agency that fired 1.42 million emails at prospective customers was today saddled with a £60,000 fine by the UK’s data watchdog.

EDML, which was paid to send the mailers on behalf of agency clients, was unable to prove the recipients had ever agreed to receive them from itself or its customers.

ICO director of investigations Steve Eckersley, said:

“Firms providing marketing services to other organisations need to double-check whether they have valid consent from people to send marketing emails to them.”
He added that “generic third party consent is not enough” and that companies that don’t verify their position will discover they are breaking the law.
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Enforcement notice (PDF): https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-taken/enforcement-notices/2259720/everything-dm-ltd-en-20180903.pdf

guest · Sep 8, 2018

Tough new measures to end the blight of nuisance calls
New powers will ban cold calls offering to settle personal injury or payment protection insurance claims if the claimant has not chosen to ‘opt-in’
September 8, 2018
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/tough-new-measures-to-end-the-blight-of-nuisance-calls

Rogue companies making unsolicited calls related to personal injury claims could now be fined up to £500,000

New powers coming into force today will see consumers given the choice to ‘opt-in’ to receive these calls People being harassed by nuisance calls will be given new powers to stop them from today.

Cold calls offering to help claim compensation for mis-sold sell payment protection insurance (PPI) will be banned if the claimant has not chosen to ‘opt-in’ to receive them.

Those offering unwanted claims management services could be fined as much as half a million pounds by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if they breach the rules.
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guest · Oct 2, 2018

Manchester nuisance-call biz fined £150k after ignoring opt-out list
Now fancies being struck off before data watchdog can collect
October 2, 2018
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/10/02/ico_fine_nuisance_call_oaklands_assist/

A sweary Mancunian biz has been fined £150,000 for making almost 64,000 nuisance calls to people who had opted out of automated marketing.

Some 59 complaints were made about Oaklands Assist UK, which made the calls over a two-month period in May to July last year.

The Information Commissioner's Office said that the firm had made a total of 246,459 calls, and some 63,724 were to people who were registered with opt-out database the Telephone Preference Service.

"Oaklands Assist were almost thoroughly uncooperative and failed repeatedly throughout the investigation to engage with the Commissioner," the report (PDF) said. "When Oaklands Assist did respond they provided vague and obstructive answers."
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Report (PDF): https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-taken/mpns/2259904/oaklands-assist-uk-limited-mpn-20181001.pdf

guest · Nov 1, 2018

£220k fines for dodgy dialling duo who didn't do due dil on data
Cold-calling home security firms slammed in watchdog's cooler
November 1, 2018
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/11/01/ico_fines_cold_caller_home_security/

The UK's data watchdog has slapped a £220,000 fine on two firms that collectively made hundreds of thousands of nuisance calls to flog home security services.

Middlesborough-based biz ACT Response Ltd and Secure Home Systems, nestled in the West Midlands, made 580,802 calls to people who were registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).

"These fines should set alarm bells ringing and deter marketing companies across all sectors that are contacting people without their consent," said ICO group enforcement manager Andy Curry.
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guest · Nov 26, 2018

Bedroom design outfit slapped with £160k fine for 1.6 million spam calls
Just five years after it paid a £90k penalty for dodgy dialling
November 26, 2018
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/11/26/ico_fine_dm_design_160k/

A Glaswegian business has been fined £160,000 for making 1.6 million nuisance calls to people on the UK's opt-out database – five years after it received a £90,000 fine which was also for dodgy dialling.

DM Design Bedrooms [...] The firm was fined £90,000 in 2013 for making thousands of nuisance calls, and the ICO noted that – despite paying up – this latest breach showed "a clear lack of remedial measures" had been taken.

Meanwhile, a separate investigation by the ICO handed down a £90,000 fine to a firm that made almost 75,000 calls to people registered on the TPS.
This company, Solartech, registered in northeast England, is also something of a repeat offender, having first been placed under investigation by the ICO in 2014.
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guest · Dec 13, 2018

UK spam-texting tax consultancy slapped with £200k fine
December 13, 2018
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/12/13/spam_texting_tax_consultancy_slapped_with_200k_fine/

Tax Returned Limited had attempted to send many more than that – some 22.7 million – but not all the texts were received. They were issued between July 2016 and October 2017, sparking more than 2,100 complaints from the recipients.

The firm told the Information Commissioner's Office that it had received valid consents to send the messages, which had been sent via a third-party service provider.
[...] couldn't provide evidence for any consent having been given for some, while for others it claimed consent had been gathered via privacy policies on certain websites.

However, the ICO ruled (PDF) that the wording of the policies wasn't clear or precise enough for people to understand they would receive direct marketing messages advertising the firm's services.
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Monetary Penalty Notice (PDF): https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-taken/mpns/2553957/tax-returned-limited-mpn-20181210.pdf

guest · Feb 11, 2019

Market researcher banned for thousands of unregulated marketing calls
February 8, 2019
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/...-for-thousands-of-unregulated-marketing-calls

Aaron Frederick Stalberg, (27), from Exmouth, was the sole director of The Lead Experts Limited, a market research and polling company.
The Lead Experts came to the attention of the ICO following complaints of automated calls made between February 2015 and September 2016.

Enquiries by the ICO established that between 4 and 5 May 2016, the market research company made more than 115,000 automated marketing calls to members of the public, breaching the regulations covering privacy and electronic communications.
Effective from 6 February 2019, Aaron Stalberg is banned for 6 years from directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company.
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guest · Feb 28, 2019

Nuisance call boss gets 8-year ban after trying to dodge firms' £700k fines
February 28, 2019
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/02/28/ico_insolvency_director_ban/

A rogue company director branded one of the worst perpetrators in the nuisance calling game has been banned from running companies for eight years.
Welshman Richard Jones was responsible for setting up two companies that fell foul of the ICO after breaking direct marketing laws.

Your Money Rights was slapped with a £350,000 fine in September 2017 for making 146 million nuisance PPI calls – the highest it had issued at the time for a breach of Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).
The watchdog said that Jones was "one of the worst offenders the ICO has seen since the laws were introduced 15 years ago"
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The ICO moved to block Jones' efforts, reporting him to the Insolvency Service, which today announced he had been slapped him with an eight-year ban, effective from 1 March 2019.
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guest · Mar 13, 2019

ICO raids Birmingham and Brighton companies suspected of millions of nuisance calls
March 13, 2019
https://www.itpro.co.uk/information...d-brighton-companies-suspected-of-millions-of

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said it has searched two addresses following complaints the companies made millions of unauthorised live and recorded nuisance calls to people.

According to the data regulator, the complainants received calls both on landlines and on mobile phones about road traffic accidents they had apparently been involved in, personal injury claims, and insurance claims for household goods.
The companies did not identify themselves when making the calls, nor did they offer the opportunity for the general public to opt out of future communications.

The ICO discovered evidence that demonstrated the companies breached the law when they seized and searched computer equipment and documents from the firms in question.
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ICO: ICO raids businesses in Brighton and Birmingham suspected of making millions of nuisance calls

guest · Mar 20, 2019

Vote Leave fined £40,000 for unlawful text messages
March 20, 2019
https://www.itpro.co.uk/information...-leave-fined-40000-for-unlawful-text-messages

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has fined the Vote Leave campaign £40,000 for sending unlawful and unsolicited text messages prior to the 2016 EU referendum.

The ICO's investigation found that the campaign sent 196,154 text messages to people which included campaign propaganda and in most cases, links to the campaign's website where recipients could find out more.
"Spam texts are a real nuisance for millions of people and we will take action against organisations who disregard the law," said Steve Eckersley, ICO director of investigations.

"Political campaigns and parties, like any other organisations, have to comply with the law," he added.
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guest · Mar 29, 2019

ICO Fines Pensions Firm for Spamming Millions of Users
March 29, 2019
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ico-fines-pensions-firm-millions-1/

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined a pensions company for sending out nearly two million spam emails.
The UK’s privacy watchdog slapped Kent-based Grove Pension Solutions with a £40,000 penalty after it sent out the unsolicited marketing emails between October 31, 2016 and October 31, 2017.

According to the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), firms can’t send out marketing emails unless the recipient has given their explicit consent. The maximum fine under the regime is £500,000.
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guest · May 8, 2019

£120,000 ICO fine allegedly based on inaccurate information
May 8, 2019
https://www.itpro.co.uk/information...ine-allegedly-based-on-inaccurate-information

A Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) compensation company based in Manchester has been fined £120,000 by the ICO for sending more than four million unsolicited direct marketing text messages, but the company claimes the watchdog's report was based on inaccuracies.

The ICO's enforcement notice claims Hall and Hanley used a third-party company to send 4,883,167 text messages between 1 January 2018 and 26 June 2018.

Since issuing the report, Hall and Hanley has told IT Pro that the aforementioned information in the enforcement notice is incorrect and that the company was in fact, listed in all four policies but later removed because of changes made to the websites' policies following GDPR's implementation.
Carpenter added: "We are appealing this and are confident this will be overturned."
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ICO - Enforcement notice (PDF): https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-taken/mpns/2614866/hall-and-handley-ltd-mpn-201905.pdf

guest · Jun 24, 2019

EE fined £100,000 for unlawful texts
June 24, 2019
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-48743784

The ICO says more than 2.5 million messages were sent in 2018.
The purpose of the texts was to encourage EE customers to use the firm's app and also to upgrade their handsets.

However, the ICO ruled that if a message includes promotional material then electronic marketing rules apply, and the fine for not complying with this legislation can be up to £500,000.
"The direct marketing guidance is clear: if a message that contains customer service information also includes promotional material to buy extra products for services, it is no longer a service message and electronic marketing rules apply."
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ICO: ICO fines telecoms company EE Limited for sending unlawful text messages

guest · Nov 27, 2019

Two-Fifths of ICO Fines Remain Unpaid: Report
November 26, 2019
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/twofifths-of-ico-fines-remain/

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is still struggling to collect monetary penalties from many of the organizations it has fined for privacy and data protection breaches over the past few years, according to newly revealed data.

The prime offenders for non-payment are in the claims management sector — companies responsible for tens of millions of nuisance calls over the years. So far, 84% of fines have been left unpaid in this sector, often because the companies involved go bankrupt to avoid payment.
Fortunately, changes to the law will hopefully make it harder for company directors to escape accountability for their wrongdoing in the future.

“Some nuisance call directors liquidate their firms to avoid paying fines from the ICO. In December 2018, the law changed to make directors themselves responsible for nuisance marketing. This should have a real deterrent effect on those who deliberately set out to disrupt people with troublesome calls, texts and emails.”
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The SMS Works: ICO Fines Collection Crisis - 42% of Fines Remain Unpaid

guest · Sep 29, 2020

Director of nuisance-calls company ordered to cough up £114k after ignoring £40k fine from UK data watchdog
September 29, 2020
https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/29/ico_it_protect_fine_enforcement/

A director of a company fined £40,000 by the Information Commissioner's Office has himself been ordered to pay out more than £100,000 as part of a long-running collection saga.

When the ICO handed IT Protect Ltd a "monetary penalty notice" back in 2017 for making nuisance sales phone calls, it appears few were expecting the chain of events set off by the fine. [...]
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An ICO spokeswoman told The Register: "It is important that we rigorously pursue payment of our monetary penalty notices to ensure we protect the public from individuals and companies who repeatedly break the rules. In taking this action we are ensuring that non-compliant directors are disrupted and obstructed from further non-compliance with the legislation."
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guest · Oct 29, 2020

mood said: ↑

Two-Fifths of ICO Fines Remain Unpaid: Report
November 26, 2019
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/twofifths-of-ico-fines-remain/

The SMS Works: ICO Fines Collection Crisis - 42% of Fines Remain Unpaid
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ICO Still Failing to Collect Fines from Unlawful Companies
October 29, 2020
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ico-still-failing-collect-fines/

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is struggling to collect the monetary fines it issues, effectively allowing companies in breach of the law off the hook, according to new Freedom of Information (FOI) data.

API company The SMS Works has been tracking the progress of the UK’s privacy and information rights regulator since 2018. Last year it revealed that, since 2015, around £7 million, or 42% of the monetary total, remained unpaid.
What’s more, the regulator hasn’t been much good at collecting more recent fines, despite telling The SMS Works last year that it would be stepping up its efforts with the help of debt collection agencies.
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Of the 21 fines handed out between Jan 2019 and August 2020, only nine have been paid, the FOI data revealed. That means 68% of the monetary value of fines issued during this time remains outstanding.
Of these, the ICO does best at collecting data breach fines, managing to bring in money for 54% during the period. However, just 13% of nuisance call fines were collected.

The answer may therefore lie with levying smaller fines for breaches and spam offenses, which the ICO has a better chance of successfully paying, he argued.
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The SMS Works: ICO fines crisis deepens - 68% of fines issued since Jan 2019 haven't been paid

So has the ICO been more effective at collecting more recent fines?
Unfortunately not.

The ICO continues to struggle to effectively collect the fines that they issue. Companies are still finding ways to wriggle out of their responsibilities.
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guest · Oct 30, 2020

UK: ICO fines Reliance Advisory Limited £250,000 for 15.1M nuisance calls
October 30, 2020
https://www.dataguidance.com/news/uk-ico-fines-reliance-advisory-limited-£250000-151m

The Information Commissioner's Office ('ICO') announced, on 29 October 2020, that it had fined Reliance Advisory Limited, a claims management services company, £250,000 for sending 15.1 million nuisance calls over a six-month period from the start of 2019 [...]

Furthermore, Reliance Advisory indicated that it was not aware of its responsibilities under the law, notably regulation 21A of the PECR which bans unsolicited calls for direct marketing purposes in relation to claims management services.
Regarding the calculation of the fine, the ICO considered, among other things, that the Reliance Advisory appeared to have employed aggressive and rude practices during the calls and that the purpose of the calls was financial gain.
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ICO: Greater Manchester claims management company fined £250,000 for making millions of nuisance calls

guest · Nov 30, 2020

Company Director Disqualified After Nuisance Calls
November 30, 2020
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/company-director-disqualified/

The director of a marketing company that made tens of thousands of nuisance calls has been banned from running a business for six years.
Elia Bols was director of AMS Marketing Limited, a firm founded in 2016 which was the subject of scores of complaints between October that year and October 2017.

UK regulator the Information Commissioner’s Office handed Bols a fine of £100,000 after judging that, under his direction, the firm had made over 75,000 nuisance calls. It should first have used the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) list of individuals who choose not to receive unsolicited contact, the ICO said.

“Nuisance calls, emails and texts can be a huge problem and often cause people real distress. By taking unscrupulous directors out of action, we can help protect the public and their privacy.”
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ICO: Marketing boss banned after thousands of nuisance calls

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ICO fines spam-happy companies £600,000

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