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Crackdown on unsolicited texts and emails

Simon Ward
by Lovemoney Staff Simon Ward on 30 January 2012  |  Comments 6 comments

The Information Commissioner's Office says it will fine companies who send out illegal unsolicited emails and text messages.

Crackdown on unsolicited texts and emails

Companies that send out unsolicited emails or text messages offering credit or compensation could be fined up to £50,000, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has said.

The crackdown comes after a massive increase in such communication in recent years.

Charity the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) has been conducting a campaign on Twitter, asking people to send examples of this kind of message and passing them on to the ICO.

Some companies have been selling on email addresses and mobile phone numbers as part of their data capture, although this is legal if an opt-in box is ticked or it’s part of the terms and conditions.

Other messages are generated at random.

Some people have been contacted with speculative unsolicited messages about claiming compensation for motor accidents, despite them not having been involved in a crash.

Others have been contacted by fee-charging debt management companies, even though they could be helped by free services such as the CCCS.

The ICO told the BBC that it knows where many of these messages have originated from and is now going to “execute search warrants”.

If you are receiving unsolicited texts, you can report them to your mobile operator and to the ICO at www.ico.gov.uk

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Comments (6)

  • naterbox
    Love rating 12
    naterbox said

    I get an autoresponse from the City of London Police, but not from Bank safe online. HMRC give an autoresponse, along with guidelines of what to do if you've clicked on the link in the phishing email. Paypal and eBay also give autoresponses, but they all state they receive too many reports to be able to let us know what the outcome of their investigations are. I report everything I can in the hopes that it'll stop the fraudsters from operating sooner rather than later.

    I'd love to report the offer of loans emails to someone, but I've no idea where to send them.

    Report on 03 February 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • 27TOZZA
    Love rating 5
    27TOZZA said

    In 7 years with Virgin mobile I never received 1 unsolicited text on my phone.I NEVER give it out to anybody.Sadly they decided to make Jersey CI into a foreign country and started charging for calls and texts over my free allowance so I moved to Orange with the same number.

    7 months later I have had at least 2 texts per month from various sources offering services etc.

    I wonder where they got the number from ?????

    Report on 04 February 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves

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