ICO finally collars Penrith firm over illegal Covid texts

The Information Commissioner’s Office is continuing to meet its pledge to crackdown on firms exploiting Covid-19 to make a quick buck by whacking a Cumbrian firm for sending hundreds of thousands of illegal text messages following a three-year “cat and mouse” chase.

H&L Business Consulting, of Penrith, Cumbria sent 378,538 unsolicited direct marketing text messages between January 2020 and July 2020. This resulted in more than 300 complaints.

The company sought to capitalise from the pandemic by directly referencing lockdown. One text messages read: “Get Debt FREE during the Lockdown! Write off 95% of ALL DEBTS with ALL charges and fees FROZEN. Government backed. Click http://outofdebtuk.co.uk. Stop 2optout” (sic)

Another stated: “Get Debt FREE during the Lockdown! Write off 95% of ALL DEBTS with ALL charges and fees FROZEN. Government backed. Click http://out-of-debts.co.uk. Stop 2optout” (sic)

The spam messages promoted a “Government-backed” debt management scheme, despite the fact that the company was not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to provide regulated financial products or services.

The company’s sole director, named as Julius Gray by Companies House, tried to evade the ICO investigations with different tactics since 2019, but the regulator said investigators were determined to bring this company to account for plaguing people’s lives with thousands of spam messages.

The business has been fined £80,000 and has also been issued with an enforcement notice by the ICO, ordering it to stop sending unlawful direct marketing messages.

ICO head of investigations Andy Curry said: “H&L Business Consulting sought to capitalise on the pandemic by sending thousands of unwanted text messages directly referencing lockdown, targeting people that may be feeling vulnerable due to the health crisis.

“This resulted in more than 300 complaints from the public who said they felt anxious and annoyed by those messages.

“The company director failed to cooperate with our investigations through concealing his identity by using false company details on his websites; changing the wording on the text messages; and, changing his company’s registered address after becoming aware of our investigation. None of this worked. We found sufficient evidence to fine this company for disrupting people’s lives with spam messages.”