The action marks the first time the Information Commissioner’s Office has flexed its muscles and issued a monetary penalty for a serious breach of the privacy and electronic communications regulations since they were approved in January 2012.

Distressed

According to a commission statement, the regulator is also considering dishing out similar penalties to three other companies operating in breach of the rules.
Information Commissioner Christopher Graham said: ‘The public have told us that they are distressed and annoyed by the constant bombardment of illegal texts and calls and we are currently cracking down on the companies responsible, using the full force of the law.’
The penalties follow an 18-month investigation into the activities of Tetrus Telecoms, a company with offices in Stockport and Birmingham jointly owned by Christopher Niebel and Gary McNeish.

Huge volumes

Tetrus had been sending huge volumes of unsolicited text messages, without the consent of the recipient and without identifying the sender – both of which are legal requirements under the regulations.
Any replies to the spam texts were then sold to other companies at huge profit, with Tetrus earning around £8,000 a day.
‘The two individuals we have served penalties on today made a substantial profit from the sale of personal information,’ said Mr Graham. ‘They knew they were breaking the law and the trail of evidence uncovered by my office highlights the scale of their operations.’
The owners now face further sanctions for failing to notify that Tetrus was processing personal information. Notification is a legal requirement for organisations under Britain’s Data Protection Act.