ICO (UK) - DialADeal Scotland Ltd
ICO (UK) - DialADeal Scotland Ltd | |
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Authority: | ICO (UK) |
Jurisdiction: | United Kingdom |
Relevant Law: | Article 4(11) GDPR Regulation 21 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 Regulation 24 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 |
Type: | Investigation |
Outcome: | Violation Found |
Started: | |
Decided: | 24.08.2021 |
Published: | 05.09.2021 |
Fine: | 150000 GBP |
Parties: | DialADeal Scotland Ltd |
National Case Number/Name: | DialADeal Scotland Ltd |
European Case Law Identifier: | n/a |
Appeal: | Unknown |
Original Language(s): | English |
Original Source: | ico.org.uk (in EN) |
Initial Contributor: | Frederick Antonovics |
The UK DPA fined a direct marketing company approximately €176,000 (£150 000) for making unsolicited direct marketing calls to subscribers who had not provided valid consent and previously notified the DPA that they do not want to received such calls.
English Summary
Facts
DialADeal Scotland Ltd is an organisation listed as a "business and domestic software development" company on the Companies House records. It used a 'spoofed' number to make a total of 1,376,255 calls from August 2019 to March 2020. One third of the recipients of such calls were made to users registered with the TPS, a register of numbers allocated to subscribers who have notified the ICO that they do not wish to receive unsolicited calls for direct marketing purposes. The calls related to non-existent "Green Deal" government energy saving schemes and led to the ICO receiving 213 complaints in that time frame. In response to an investigation letter sent to the home address of one of the company's two directors, he sent an email stating it did not engage in any of such activities. The ICO was not convinced.
Dispute
Holding
The Commissioner held that DialADeal Scotland Ltd contravened Regulations 21 and 24 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003. The recipients of the direct marketing calls it made had not given their prior consent to receive them and were registered with the TPS. The infringement was serious because the company actively took steps to prevent recipients from contacting it, failed to identify itself on the calls and provided false generic company names. It was also deliberate or negligent because the direct marketing calls were made about government schemes that did not exist and the ICO received a high number of complaints regarding them. As a result, the ICO issued a fine of €176,000 (£150 000).
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English Machine Translation of the Decision
The decision below is a machine translation of the English original. Please refer to the English original for more details.
Action we've taken/ Enforcement/ DialADeal Scotland Ltd MPN DialADeal Scotland Ltd Date 05 September 2021 Type Monetary penalties Sector Retail and manufacture The ICO has fined DialADeal Scotland Ltd £150 000 for making unsolicited direct marketing calls to subscribers who were registered with the TPS and who had not provided valid consent. Further Reading DialADeal Scotland Ltd monetary penalty notice Action we've taken PDF (7.36MB) Action we've taken/ Enforcement/ DialADeal Scotland Ltd MPN DialADeal Scotland Ltd Date 05 September 2021 Type Monetary penalties Sector Retail and manufacture The ICO has fined DialADeal Scotland Ltd £150 000 for making unsolicited direct marketing calls to subscribers who were registered with the TPS and who had not provided valid consent. Further Reading DialADeal Scotland Ltd monetary penalty notice Action we've taken PDF (7.36MB) EnglishCymraegEnglishCymraeg