7 November 2005
Having last week been boosted by the news that silent calls from call centres are to be greeted with severe penalties, home phone users have been dealt a shot in the arm by the weighty punishment handed to a Welsh company which made thousands from unsolicited calls.
Mobile Entertainment Group rang home phone users with pre-recorded messages urging them to premium rate numbers on the pretence that they had won money – and has been fined £100,000 by premium rate regulator ICSTIS.
The firm had cashed in by promising listeners either £1,000 in cash or a reward worth £1,000 and pointing them to dial a number costing £1.50 a minute in order to make their claim.
ICSTIS director George Kidd said: "These services are simply unacceptable and further undermine trust in premium rate services.
"These recorded messages are intrusive, misleading and almost certainly illegal. We have acted fast to stop this harm but we realise that we need to remain vigilant and use all our powers to stamp out this sort of behaviour."
ICSTIS used its Emergency Procedure to deal out the punishment – which also gave the firm a two-year ban on operating prize lines – to Mobile Entertainment Group, having warned in March that it would clamp down firmly on premium rate providers deemed to be operating in breach of regulations.
Compare home telephone suppliers and save an average £170 a year.
© 2008 Adfero Ltd
Content for the uSwitch.com market news service is provided by a third party, Adfero Ltd. Whilst uSwitch.com makes reasonable efforts to check the reliability of this content, uSwitch.com does not guarantee the accuracy thereof or endorse the views or opinions given by Adfero Ltd, unless expressly stated otherwise.