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ICO clamps down on injury claims spammers20 Jan 2012The UK’s data protection authority, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), is taking steps to clamp down on SMS text message spam that encourages the public to make accident-related injury claims. The ICO said that it is conducting raids targeting criminal operations that collect sales leads by illegally sending unsolicited text messages. Their spam text messages are typically sent from so-called SIM banks, hardware devices into which dozens of SIM cards are inserted and which are used with automated software to dial hundreds of mobile phones. The SIM cards are frequently switched so even if a number is reported as sending spam, it won’t be in use for long. The texts may ask the user to text back “stop” allegedly to prevent further messages, but doing this simply confirms the number is valid. With the injury claims spam, the user may be asked to text back “claim” if they are thinking about making a claim in relation to an accident. The spammer can then sell that person's contact number to lawyers and others with an interest in following up such leads. Claims industry operators that buy such data are required to ensure that it was obtained lawfully, but they have little legal liability unless they make no attempt at all to check how it was collected, says the ICO. The ICO has been meeting with claims management companies (CMCs) to ask how they obtain their data but those that are not working within the regulatory system can be difficult to track down. CMCs that are (supposed to be) operating lawfully are regulated by the MoJ Claims Management Regulation (CMR) and many that breech the rules are shut down. From May 2011, the ICO has had the power to fine organizations up to £500,000 for breaching the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, which prescribe the rules for marketing text messages. These regulations state that marketing messages are legal only if the sender obtained the phone number through a sale, the products are related to the sender and that the receiver had an option to opt out. Senders also must provide a simple means of opting out. In a survey of 1,014 people conducted by the ICO, 681 said that they had received a text that had caused “concern.” Over 200 said that they were "troubled" by text spam and had no knowledge of how their details had been obtained. The ICO also gained the power in 2011 to require phone network operators to disclose any information connected with specific phone numbers that they required. Their clamp down on illegal texts is ongoing at the present time. This action, of course, is important to motorists as it is the spiralling numbers of personal injury claims in relation to road traffic accidents that has been the main cause of major car insurance price increases over recent years. |
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