A married couple has been convicted of 25 cases of
illegally obtaining and selling personal information following a
successful prosecution by the Information Commissioner’s Office
(ICO).
Stephen and Sharon Anderson of St Ives in Cambridgeshire pleaded
guilty to obtaining and selling information unlawfully.
Mick Gorrill, head of the ICO’s regulatory action division,
said, “Obtaining and selling personal information is a serious
offence, which can be highly damaging to the individuals concerned.
The ICO is calling for custodial sentences to deter those who might
be tempted to engage in this kind of activity.”
Mrs Anderson pleaded guilty to 14 allegations asking for a
further 51 offences to be taken into consideration. Mr Anderson
pleaded guilty to 11 offences and asked for a further 46 offences
to be taken into consideration.
Mrs Anderson was fined a total of £4,200 and Mr Anderson was
fined £3,300. Each was ordered to pay a contribution to prosecution
costs of £3,695.
The couple had used “blagging” techniques to obtain personal
information about individuals from a number of organisations,
including Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, British Telecom and
banks.
On a number of occasions the blaggers purported to be employees
of these organisations and deceived true members of staff into
disclosing personal information about individuals.
The evidence gathered by the ICO showed that the couple had
obtained account details, income tax information and ex-directory
telephone numbers relating to a number of different victims.
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