{"id":44639,"date":"2021-12-08T16:37:51","date_gmt":"2021-12-08T16:37:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/virgin-media-fined-50000-after-spamming-451000-who-didnt-want-marketing-emails\/"},"modified":"2021-12-08T16:37:51","modified_gmt":"2021-12-08T16:37:51","slug":"virgin-media-fined-50000-after-spamming-451000-who-didnt-want-marketing-emails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/virgin-media-fined-50000-after-spamming-451000-who-didnt-want-marketing-emails\/","title":{"rendered":"Virgin Media fined \u00a350,000 after spamming 451,000 who didn’t want marketing emails"},"content":{"rendered":"

British telco Virgin Media is facing a \u00a350k financial penalty after spamming more than 400,000 opted-out customers urging them to sign back up to receive marketing bumf.<\/p>\n

Just one customer complained to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) about receiving the spam \u2013 but that was enough to spur the regulator into investigating.<\/p>\n

In a message disguised as a routine communication about tariff prices, Virgin told the unfortunate 451,217 recipients it knew full well they’d opted out of marketing emails but wanted them to opt back in.<\/p>\n

A dischuffed customer wrote to the ICO urging action, describing the spam as “basically a service message dressed up as an attempt to get me to opt back in to marketing communications.”<\/p>\n

When the ICO asked Virgin why it did this thing, the telco said the 451,000 recipients had opted out of being spammed more than a year ago, and therefore “might have changed their marketing preferences.”<\/p>\n