A company which illegally contacted people offering to help consumers claim for miss-sold PPI (Payment Protection Insurance) has overturned a £440,000 Information Commissioners Office (ICO) fine, Vigilance can report.
Tetrus Telecoms was said to have been fined by the ICO after an investigation discovered the company had hounded the public with millions of spam texts over a period of three years.
Vigilance gathered the investigation revealed that the organisation had been sending the spam texts on unregistered pay-as-you-go SIM cards , raking in over £7,000 a day for the firm in claims.
Tetrus Telecoms appealed against their fine in a tribunal which was accepted with the reason that although what the company did was illegal, it didn’t cause substantial stress on the recipients.
The ICO has said they are very disappointed by the result and will appeal against the claim, and there have been concerns that the decision will undermine future enforcement and fines placed on businesses conducting the same illegal activity.
It is said there have been several other telemarketing firms which have been caught in proactive illegal spam activity, including The Call Centre which was fined £225,000 after over 2,500 complaints were made against the company.