- Company directors knowingly facilitated unlawful activity for financial gain-
- Affiliate used 459 different telephone numbers capable of sending up to 546,000 text messages a day-
- ICO received nearly 38,000 complaints
We have fined West Sussex-based company ESL Consultancy Services Ltd (ESL) £200,000 for knowingly instigating unlawful loan promotion nuisance text messages being sent to people who had not consented to receive them.
ESL came to our attention through a separate investigation into Daniel George Bentley, an affiliate marketer and lead generator. During the investigation, Bentley set up Taipan Trading Ltd (TTL) in an apparent attempt to appear more legitimate and in the hope that ESL would make the company an appointed representative with the Financial Conduct Authority.
We executed search warrants at addresses linked to Bentley in June 2023 and seized several documents referring to ESL. These included an appointed representative due diligence questionnaire, agreement form and bank account details.
Analysis of the evidence led to the ICO executing a search warrant at ESL’s registered address seizing mobile phones, laptops, tablets and external storage drives. Analysis of the devices further identified documents relevant to the our investigation including an appointed representative questionnaire for TTL, Excel files containing personal information and numerous Skype conversations between ESL and TTL discussing their business arrangement.
The Skype conversations showed ESL requested details of the opt-in on which TTL was relying to send the text messages, stating: “the ICO are on everyone at the mo [sic] so as long as we have something to show that’s fine.” TTL responded stating: “strictly speaking that doesn’t exist yet.”
TTL also admitted to ESL its business operated non compliantly, and it also concealed the fact that it had been investigated by the ICO.
Further analysis of the evidence showed that ESL doctored TTL’s due diligence form when it sent it to the Financial Conduct Authority by removing information that could be deemed unfavourable.
“The evidence we collected during our two search warrants was invaluable, providing us with a clear picture of the illegal activities these two companies were undertaking.
“It became apparent to us very quickly that ESL knew about the direct marketing requirements and our role in enforcing the law, yet they chose to blatantly ignore this for their own financial gain.
“We will not falter in our commitment to protect people by unpicking tangled webs of deceit, as in this case, and taking enforcement action against rogue companies to hold them to account.”
- Andy Curry, ICO Interim Director of Investigations
Details of the fine
We found that between September 2022 and December 2023, ESL used a third party to send marketing text messages without ensuring valid consent was in place to send the messages. ESL also took steps to try and conceal the identity of the sender of the messages by using unregistered SIM cards. As a result we received 37,977 complaints. ESL has also been issued with an enforcement notice.