What happened
An ICO investigation revealed that Quick Tax Claims Limited sent 7,863,547 unlawful text messages over the course of a single month, resulting in 66,793 complaints — 93% of which stated there was no 'opt out' option, the ICO reported in October 2024.
The investigation found the company had purchased personal information from third-party suppliers that did not obtain valid consent, putting it in breach of direct-marketing rules from the first message. The ICO issued Quick Tax Claims a £120,000 fine and an enforcement notice.
The penalty was announced alongside a parallel case — two companies were fined a total of £150k after bombarding people with spam texts offering financial and debt services, per the ICO's own announcement linked in the enforcement notice.
What it cost
£120,000 fine plus an enforcement notice; the ICO's parallel action against a second company brought the total to £150k.
Why it happened
Millions of texts in a month left no room for a lawful consent basis to exist.
93% of complaints mentioned the missing opt-out, compounding the consent violation.
The contact data was bought from suppliers without valid consent, tainting the entire campaign.
The lesson
Bought contact lists inherit the seller's consent problem: if the data was never lawfully obtained, every message sent on it is unlawful at scale.
Aftermath
The £120,000 fine and enforcement notice were issued on October 15, 2024.
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