Telco First cops another fine for spamming

The Australian Communications and Media Authority will monitor Telco First closely after the marketing company was found guilty of a large illegal text spamming campaign that resulted in a $79,800 fine being paid.

Through another business, Telco First sent more than 65,000 texts to 40,000 phone numbers between March and August 2019, sparking an ACMA investigation for breaches of Australia's anti-spam laws.

ACMA found that Telco First had breached the Spam Act 2003 by sending messages without the consent of the recipients, without identifying the sender of them, and without an unsubscribe function.

On top of the penalty paid, Telco First has made court-enforceable commitments to ACMA to appoint an independent consultant to ensure that its e-marketing campaigns comply with current spam laws.

Telco First is a second-time offender, having received a $285,600 penalty in September 2018  - when trading as My Way Pty Ltd - for making telemarketing calls to phone numbers on the Do Not Call register without consent.

ACMA authority member Fiona Cameron said a close watch will be kept on Telco First "given its history of non-compliance".

"We will not hesitate to take further action if we find breaches in the future,” Cameron said.

Repeat offenders of Australia's anti-spam laws could face penalties of up to $2.22 million a day, ACMA warned.