ICO Issues Fines For Unsolicited Nuisance Calls

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has hit two firms with fines for making unsolicited marketing phone calls.

Pension House Exchange Ltd.

The ICO has fined Pension House Exchange Ltd. for placing unsolicited calls regarding pension schemes.

In issuing its £45,000 fine, the ICO said the company made 39,722 marketing calls related to occupational and personal pension schemes.

The calls made by the company violate the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR), according to the ICO.

The ICO first became aware of Pension House Exchange after being contacted by a third party regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

This third party alleged the company had been making unsolicited calls to market pension schemes while posing as the third party.

The commissioner consulted with the FCA on whether Pension House Exchange was authorised to make these types of calls and confirmed not only was it not authorised, it was not registered with the FCA.

Over the course of its investigation, the ICO found Pension House Exchange had made over 200,000 calls during the period between 9 January and 8 September 2019. The ICO then obtained a warrant and seized documents and electronic devices. 

The seized documents revealed Pension House Exchange would connect with LinkedIn users, harvest their contact details, then target them with the direct marketing calls.

The ICO said it was “apparent” Pension House Exchange had purchased data from third-party providers, but it was unclear whether the data was being used in making the pension scheme calls. 

A Pension House Exchange director confirmed in November 2019 the LinkedIn data was the company’s only source, and that 39,722 calls connected between 9 January and 3 October, 2019.

In addition, the company did not produce any evidence the LinkedIn users’ consent had been sought, the ICO said.

Pownall Marketing Ltd.

The ICO also recently levied a fine against Pownall Marketing Ltd. for making more than 350,000 nuisance calls.

According to the ICO, Pownall used a “public electronic communications service” to make 365,369 unsolicited direct marketing phone calls. The company allegedly called subscribers related to claims management.

The calls resulted in 63 complaints, the ICO said.

Pownall came to the ICO’s attention when the commissioner and Telephone Preference Service (TPS) began receiving complaints from consumers about unwanted marketing calls.

Using the complaints’ originating Calling Line Identification Numbers (CLLs) to establish the subscriber’s identity, which the commissioner revealed to be Pownall. The company was found to use 61 CLLs.

During its investigation, the ICO sent a letter to Pownall and received a response indicating the company was a “marketing agent” for another company, which was later discovered to be a company based in India.

The Indian company allegedly supplied the data used by Pownall in its campaigns. Leads that were generated were sent back to the Indian company, the ICO said.

According to Call Dialler Records obtained by the commissioner, Pownall placed 554,753 calls between 1 January and 28 May 2019, 365,369 of which actually connected to subscribers.

The ICO’s Financial Recovery Unit (FRU) is taking action to retrieve £250,000 from Pownall, now defunct.

ICO Warns Consumers

In light of the recent Pension House Exchange fine, the ICO is warning consumers to be wary when it comes to scam calls about pensions.

The PECR was updated in January 2019 in an effort to provide more protection for people who are victimised by pension scams.

Pension scams in the U.K. are believed to have led to the loss of at least £31 million since 2017.

However, it is likely pension scams often are left unreported because the victims do not realise they have been scammed or do not know how much they have in their pension either before or after being scammed.

Legally, companies are only allowed to call people about their personal or occupational pensions if the caller is authorised to do so by the FCA or if they are a trustee or manager of a pension scheme, and if the recipient consents to receiving calls or already has a relationship with the person placing the call.

Consumers who believe they may be the victim of nuisance calls about their pensions are urged to contact the ICO on its website, using live chat or by calling 0303 123 1113.

Have you received unwanted phone calls about pension schemes? Tell us about your experience in the comment section below.

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