7726 = SPAM = £85000 Fine for Tempcover Ltd

Received an unsolicited marketing sms on your phone and you can report it by forwarding to the number 7726. The number is easy to remember 7726 spells out spam on your phone key pad.

12 users reported marketing sms messages from short term car and van insurer Temp Cover via the 7726 services and one additional user reported the messages direct to the ICO.

These complaints investigated by the ICO and Tempcover Ltd were fined £85,000.

Digging deeper into the case Tempcover believed they had consent because users had confirmed their agreement to Tempcover processing their details in line with Tempcover’s ” privacy policy and terms of business” But the ICO ruled that this was not sufficient stating Tempcover

“had failed to provide subscribers with an opportunity to opt-out of direct marketing when first obtaining their details, and essentially made agreement to marketing a condition of service. For this reason, the consent to receive unsolicited direct marketing messages cannot be said to have been ‘freely given’.”

This is clear example of why regular high quality GDPR training is essential for all businesses. No organisation can afford to get caught out by employees failing to understand or remember the rules

Concrew Trainings data protection courses start at just £285 for 14 people, at our prices all organisations can afford high quality GDPR and PECR training every year.