We Buy Any Car has been fined £200,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) after it sent 191 million emails and 3.6 million SMS messages without fully satisfying the requirements of the soft opt in.
The aggressive marketing campaign resulted in in 42 complaints to the Commissioner, over a period of twelve months.
We Buy Any Car was fined alongside Sports Direct and Saga, which were also fined after sending “frustrating and intrusive” nuisance messages.
Andy Curry, ICO head of investigations, said: “Getting a ping on your phone or constant unwanted messages on your laptop from a company you don’t want to hear from is frustrating and intrusive.
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“These companies should have known better.
“Today’s fines show the ICO will tackle unsolicited marketing, irrespective of whether the messages have been orchestrated by a small business or organisation, or a leading household name.
“The law remains the same and we hope today’s action sends out a deterrent message that members of the public must have their choices and privacy respected.
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“Companies that want to send direct marketing messages must first have people’s consent.
“And people must understand what they are consenting to when they hand over their personal information.
“The same rules apply even when companies use third parties to send messages on their behalf.”
The ICO has said that if We Buy Any Car pay the fine before October 11 it will reduce the penalty by 20 per cent to £160,000.
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