Tetrus Telecoms, a marketing company with an office in Stockport has been fined for sending out unlawful spam texts to millions over the last three years.
Examples of the texts will be familiar to many of us: “CLAIM TODAY you may be entitled to £3500 for the accident you had. To claim free, reply CLAIM to this message. To opt out text STOP. Thank you.”.
The unsolicited texts originated from offices in both Stockport and Birmingham, without the consent of the recipient and without identifying the sender – both of which are legal requirements.
Replies were then used to generate leads that were sold on to other companies for profit.
The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) said the penalty follows an 18-month investigation into Tetrus Telecoms, which is jointly owned by Christopher Niebel and Gary McNeish.
The ICO’s investigation included raids at the company’s Stockport premises in August 2011, and at the Manchester home of Mr Niebel in February this year.
Evidence obtained showed Tetrus was using unregistered pay-as-you go sim cards to send out as many as 840,000 illegal texts a day with an income of £7,000 to £8,000 a day, the ICO said.
The watchdog, which is carrying out a wider crackdown on illegal marketing, said it is currently considering issuing penalties to three other firms believed to be acting in breach of regulations.
The body said it is the first time it has used its powers to impose a fine in this type of case.
Mr Niebel was ordered to pay a penalty of £300,000, while Mr McNeish has been fined £140,000.
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