The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined two Greater Manchester companies a total of £290K after finding they made numerous nuisance phone calls to people – who’d opted out of receiving marketing calls – attempting to sell them life insurance and debt management solutions.
Breathe Services Ltd (BSL), a debt advice company based in Bolton, first came to the attention of the ICO as part of a wider investigation into complaints received about unsolicited phone calls to potentially vulnerable individuals.
In a failed attempt to hide their real identity, BSL was found to have spoofed its outbound phone number by presenting over 1,000 different telephone numbers on calls. In March 2023 the ICO carried out a search at BSL’s office in Bolton, seizing evidence including documents and electronic devices.
The ICO’s extensive investigation revealed that between March – July 2022 and October – December 2022, BSL bombarded people with 4,376,037 unsolicited direct marketing calls to numbers that had been registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS). This resulted in 58 complaints to the TPS and a further 193 complaints to the ICO.
During the same wider investigation into unsolicited marketing calls, a second company was identified: Money Bubble Ltd (MBL), a financial advice company based in Oldham.
It was found that between October – November 2022, the company made 168,852 spam calls resulting in several further complaints being made to the ICO and TPS. MBL did not provide evidence that anyone whose number had been called had consented to receiving calls from the company. The ICO has issued a £120,000 fine.
Both companies have also been issued with an Enforcement Notice.
