Customer Data Thieves Made to Pay
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Issued on 10
June 2011
Customer
data thieves made to pay
£73,700
Two
former employees of UK mobile operator T-Mobile who illegally
stole and sold select customer data from the company in 2008 have today
been
ordered to pay a total of £73,700 in fines and confiscation costs as
part of a
hearing at Chester Crown Court.
David
Turley and Darren Hames pleaded guilty to offences under
Section 55 of the Data Protection Act (DPA) last year. The pair’s
offences were
uncovered after T-Mobile identified an issue and turned the matter over
to the
ICO to help investigate how names, addresses, telephone numbers and
customer
contract end dates were being unlawfully passed on to third parties.
David
Turley, who pleaded guilty to 18 offences under Section 55
of the DPA in July 2010, has today been ordered to pay £45,000
confiscation
costs and been given a three year conditional discharge. If he does not
pay the
confiscation costs within six months he will serve an 18 month prison
sentence
by default.
Darren
Hames, who pleaded guilty to two offences under section 55
of the DPA last November, has been ordered to pay £28,700 confiscation
costs,
£500 towards prosecution costs and been given an 18 month conditional
discharge. If he does not pay the confiscation costs within six months
he will
serve a 15 month prison sentence by default.
Information
Commissioner, Christopher Graham, said:
“Today’s
hearing marks the final chapter in an investigation that has exposed
the
criminals behind a mass illegal trade in lucrative mobile phone
contract
information. It also marks a new chapter of effective deterrents on
data crime
where the courts will act to recover the ill-gotten gains.
“Those
who have regular access to thousands of customer details may think that
attempts to use it for personal gain will go undetected. But this case
shows
that there is always an audit trail and my office will do everything in
its
power to uncover it. The lifestyle the pair gained from their criminal
activities
has been short lived and I hope this case serves as a strong deterrent
to
others. I am particularly grateful to T-Mobile for their help in this
investigation.”
The
ICO’s investigation into the case began in December 2008. A chronology
report
detailing key information about the investigation and how Hames and
Turley were
brought to justice is now available on the ICO’s website.
The
Proceeds of Crime Act is the legislation, which provides for the
recovery of
the proceeds from crime. This case is the first time the ICO has
applied for
and been granted use of confiscation orders. Under the Act, a
proportion of any
money recovered is given to the prosecuting authority to be used in the
prevention and detection of crime The ICO will use its proportion of
the money
to fund training for its investigation staff.
Current
or former mobile phone customers who are receiving unwanted marketing
information or calls about their mobile phone contract should tell the
sender
to stop contacting them and register with the Telephone Preference
Service.
Customers who receive persistent unwanted marketing calls, text
messages,
emails or letters can complain to the ICO by calling our helpline on
0303 123
1113 or visiting our website at www.ico.gov.uk.
Notes
- The
case summary is available on the ICO website at: http://www.ico.gov.uk/~/media/documents/library/Data_Protection/Notices/tmobile_summary.pdf
- The
Information Commissioner’s Office upholds information rights in the
public
interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for
individuals.
- The
ICO
has specific responsibilities set out in the Data Protection Act 1998,
the
Freedom of Information Act 2000, Environmental Information Regulations
2004 and
Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003.
- .The ICO is on Twitter,
Facebook
and LinkedIn,
and produces a monthly e-newsletter.
Our For
the media page provides more information for journalists.
- Anyone
who processes personal information must comply with eight principles of
the
Data Protection Act, which make sure that personal information is:
-
Fairly
and lawfully processed
-
Processed
for limited purposes
-
Adequate,
relevant and not excessive
-
Accurate
and up to date
-
Not
kept for longer than is necessary
-
Processed
in line with your rights
-
Secure
-
Not
transferred to other countries without
adequate protection
About the Author
The Information Commissioner’s Office is the UK’s
independent authority set up to uphold information rights in the public
interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for
individuals. We do this by promoting good practice, ruling on
complaints, providing information to individuals and organisations and
taking appropriate action when the law is broken.
The ICO enforces and oversees the following
legislation:
- Data Protection Act 1998
- Freedom of Information Act 2000
- Privacy and Electronic Communications
Regulations
2003
- Environmental Information Regulations
2004
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Article Published/Sorted/Amended on Scopulus 2011-06-12 09:17:43 in Computer Articles
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