A government watchdog is to take steps against nuisance phonecalls and texts this week, issuing written warnings to more than 1,000 companies it believes are actively buying and selling lists of names and numbers used for cold calling and texts.
The Information Commissioner’s Office will also announce fines totalling £250,000 for three perpetrators of nuisance calls. This will bring to a total of £1.25m the penalties imposed over the past four months.
Christopher Graham, the information commissioner, said big breakthroughs had been made in the data gathered on the worst offenders, which would lead to further court appearances.
“We already know a lot about this sector,” he said. “ We know that it prompts 180,000 complaints a year from consumers, who take the time to report to us the calls they’re getting. That information has helped us to make some big breakthroughs in the nuisance calls business, alongside the intelligence we build up from elsewhere, from whistleblowers or the network providers.”
Graham said the ICO had been able to see “clear patterns building up and can identify who would benefit from guidance, and who the truly bad actors are. This enables us to execute search warrants, to drag people before the courts and to issue fines”.
The first fine is understood to be for a business that sent more than 1m text messages inviting claims for PPI mis-selling. The other two are to companies marketing services to reduce nuisance calls – such as call blocker systems.
Changes to the law came into force in April relating to nuisance calls and texts. Previously the ICO had to prove that a company caused “substantial damage or substantial distress” in making such calls or sending spam text messages. Now it only has to prove the company was committing a serious breach of privacy and electronic communication regulations.
