On December 12, 2024, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) announced it had fined Breathe Services Ltd (BSL) £170,000 and Money Bubble Ltd (MBL) £120,000 for making unlawful direct marketing calls, following an investigation by the ICO.

Background to the decision

The ICO stated that between March 2022 - July 2022 and October 2022 - December 2022, BSL, a debt advice company, made a total of 4.3 million unsolicited direct marketing calls, to people registered on the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) to opt out of marketing calls. Further, the ICO explained that during the investigation, it found that BSL had deliberately tried to conceal its actions, as well as ceasing to cooperate with the ICO.

With regard to MBL, the ICO stated that between October - November 2022, MBL made 168,852 spam calls, resulting in several further complaints being made to the ICO and TPS. The ICO explained that MBL did not provide evidence that anyone whose number had been called had consented to receive calls from MBL. 

Findings of the ICO

The ICO's investigation found that both BSL and MBL contravened Regulations 21 and 24 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), for transmitting unsolicited direct marketing communication to subscribers who were registered on the TPS, to opt out of marketing calls.

Outcomes

Accordingly, the ICO imposed a fine of £170,000 on BSL and a fine of  £120,000 on MBL. In addition to the fines, the ICO also issued enforcement notices to both BSL and MBL, requiring the two companies to, among other things, stop calling subscribers who had registered with the TPS or had previously objected to receiving marketing calls.

You can read the press release here, the monetary penalty notice to BSL here, the monetary penalty notice to MBL here, the enforcement notice to BSL here, and the enforcement notice to MBL here.