Bradford-based bank handed £75k fine for sending nearly 1.5 million spam messages

Vanquis Bank Ltd, the Bradford-based bank, has been handed a £75k fine for sending out hundreds of thousands of spam emails and text messages.

The bank, headquartered in Godwin Street in the city centre, sent a total of 870,849 spam text messages and 620,000 spam emails to promote its credit cards.

Both the emails and texts broke the law because the recipients had not consented to being sent such messages.

As a result, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined Vanquis Bank Ltd £75k. This must be paid by November th, 2017.

Steve Eckersley, ICO head of enforcement, said: “There are rules in place to protect people from the irritation, and in some cases anxiety and distress, spam texts and emails cause.

“People need to be properly informed about what they are consenting to. Telling them their details could be passed to ‘similar organisations’ or ‘selected third parties’ cannot be relied upon as specific consent.”