Firm fined for spam texts to people
TWO Greater Manchester firms have been fined for nuisance marketing including one that sent more than 260,000 spam texts promoting funeral plans.
Costelloe and Kelly Limited, based on Huxley Drive in Bramhall, has been slapped with a £19,000 fine for the message bombardment following an Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) investigation.
A separate ICO investigation has also seen IAG Nationwide Limited, based on Greek Street in Shaw Heath, fined £100,000.
A report said the firm made more than 69,000 calls to people registered with the Telephone Preference Service, which enables members of the public to opt out of receiving unsolicited marketing or sales calls.
But IAG was phoning these people and recipients described the calls as ‘frightening’, ‘threatening’ and ‘aggressive’, the ICO said.
The company also failed to correctly identify itself in the calls, did not give people the chance to opt out of receiving them and provided misleading information about the nature of the call.
In addition to the fine IAG has been issued with an enforcement notice, ordering it to stop illegal marketing.
Andy Curry, ICO enforcement group manager, said: “These firms showed disregard for both the law and people’s right to privacy when they embarked on their unlawful marketing campaigns.
“We heard about the harassing nature of the calls made by IAG Nationwide, whilst Costelloe and Kelly ploughed ahead with their spam texts despite the fact the content was about funeral plans – a sensitive area which could cause upset to recipients.
“Reports from the public about these firms helped our investigations, leading to action to hold those responsible to account.
“I would urge others targeted by nuisance calls, emails or texts to report them to the ICO.”
Nuisance calls as well as spam texts and emails can be reported via the ICO’s website.
Mobile phone users can also report spam texts to the free GSMA Spam Reporting Service by forwarding the message to 7726.