The Information Commissioner’s Office has proved that PECR fines are just like London buses, you don’t get one for ages and then two come along at once after the regulator has issued its second round of fines for nuisance calls in a matter of days.
Both Quick Tax Claims, a company focusing on PPI tax refunds, and National Debt Advice, a debt counselling advice service, are based in Mancheter.
They first came to the ICO’s attention in May 2023 when a number of complaints were sent to the 7726 spam message reporting service.
A wider investigation revealed that Quick Tax Claims had sent 7,863,547 unlawful text messages over the course of a month, resulting in 66,793 complaints – 93% of these stating there was no ‘opt out’ option.
During the investigation, the ICO found that the company had purchased personal information from third-party suppliers that did not obtain valid consent. This has resulted in Quick Tax Claims being slapped with a £120,000 fine.
Similarly, the ICO’s investigation into National Debt Advice found that over a four-month period, the firm had sent 129,902 spam text messages resulting in 4,033 complaints.
It transpired during the probe, which lasted several months due to poor cooperation from National Debt Advice , that the firm had also purchased personal information from third-party suppliers, including loan decline data – which meant that the text messages were sent to people who had previously been turned down for loans.
The company also failed to conduct appropriate consent checks, eventually resulting in the ICO fining the firm £30,000.
ICO head of investigations Andy Curry said: “Both of these companies bombarded people with spam messages, often preying on those who might be experiencing difficult financial circumstances. To then be hounded by numerous unwarranted text messages, just adds further stress to people in those situations.
“It is so important, in these types of circumstances, that companies gain consent to send direct messages. Relying on third-party claims of consent, without undertaking the most basic of checks, is far from responsible conduct by these companies, and that’s why we took action.”
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