Two Manchester-based companies, Quick Tax Claims Limited and National Debt Advice Limited, have been fined a combined £150,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for bombarding individuals with over 7.5 million spam text messages. The fines come after an investigation into widespread complaints about unsolicited messages promoting financial and debt services.
Quick Tax Claims Limited, a firm specializing in PPI tax refunds, was found to have sent 7,863,547 unlawful text messages in just one month, leading to 66,793 complaints. Alarmingly, 93% of those complaints highlighted the lack of an ‘opt out’ option in the messages. The ICO discovered that Quick Tax Claims had sourced personal data from third-party suppliers without obtaining proper consent, resulting in a hefty £120,000 fine.
Similarly, National Debt Advice Limited, a debt counselling company, was fined £30,000 after sending 129,902 spam texts over a four-month period, generating 4,033 complaints. The company had purchased loan decline data from third-party suppliers, which meant that many of the recipients had already been denied loans. During the investigation, the ICO found that National Debt Advice had failed to check for valid consent before targeting these individuals.
Andy Curry, the ICO’s Head of Investigations, highlighted the severity of the companies’ actions, saying: “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.”
The ICO’s investigation revealed that both companies had relied on third-party claims of consent without conducting proper checks. Curry emphasized, “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.”
These fines serve as a reminder to businesses of the importance of respecting privacy and ensuring that proper consent is obtained before sending marketing communications, especially to those who may already be in vulnerable situations. The ICO remains committed to protecting individuals from such predatory practices.
