Lead-gen firm clobbered by ICO

The ICO has ordered Sweet Media, a Wolverhampton-based lead generation company, to stop sending nuisance texts after carrying out a raid at the company’s offices last May.
Although it is not known why the investigation has taken 10 months to complete, SIM cards and computer equipment were seized and it was revealed the company had sent over 4.5 million text messages over an eight-month period.
The ICO was alerted to the company thanks to 796 complaints to the office and the ‘7726’ spam text reporting service. The marketing texts were on a range of subjects including debt management, payday loans, pension reviews, mortgage mis-selling, gambling and credit cards.
ICO enforcement manager Andy Curry said: “There’s no excuse for nuisance texts. Bombarding people’s phones with unwanted marketing messages is against the law. Thanks to this enforcement notice there should be one less company annoying people.
“This action is a direct result of complaints to our office, and our raid on their Wolverhampton offices is a clear example of our comprehensive work to tackle spam texts and nuisance calls.”
Two weeks ago, the ICO raided a business centre in Hove believed to be connected to sending up to 6 million nuisance texts a day.

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