ICO seizes kit in spam text raid

ICO seizes kit in spam text raid (2)The Information Commissioner’s Office has raided a claims management call centre in Llanelli, Wales, thought to be behind as many as 6 million nuisance text messages and seized documents and a computer server.
The ICO will now consider whether an enforcement notice forcing the firm – which has not been named – to comply with the rules regarding text marketing can be issued.
Assistant Information Commissioner for Wales Anne Jones said: “Our intelligence pinpointed this address as being connected to a vast spam text operation responsible for sending out millions of text messages that have caused nuisance to thousands of people.
“Thanks to this raid, we have seized information that will enable us to identify where this organisation are sourcing their data and prevent them from selling it to third parties. The rules on sending text messages are clear, and if the evidence proves the law has been broken we will act.”
The raid was prompted by intelligence supplied by the Ministry of Justice Claims Management Regulation Unit (CMRU), the telecoms industry and the ICO’s online reporting tool.
The investigation will now continue, looking into where the data was acquired to make these calls and whether the data had been sold forward to third party organisations.
The raid follows similar action in May, when the ICO seized hundreds of SIM cards from a so-called “SIM farm” in offices in Wolverhampton.
However, only last week the regulator admitted that its fight against nuisance calls and texts was being hampered by last year’s High Court ruling overturning a £440,000 fine for Tetrus Telecoms.

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1 Comment on "ICO seizes kit in spam text raid"

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