This SCAM has happened before - latest being August 12th - see also OUT-LAW references below which provide 4 other instances of the same sca

 
C


High Court blocks data protection scam

http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?page_id=highcourtblocksda1060682833&area=news

12/08/2003

The Office of Fair Trading has won a legal battle to stop a businessman from being involved with misleading advertising for data protection notification services. The adverts had given the impression that they came from official bodies and that each recipient was obliged to register with the sender at a cost of £95.

Following action by the OFT, the High Court on Thursday granted an interim injunction against Christopher Yewdall prohibiting him from being involved in any way with certain types of advertising about data protection notification services. It also means he can no longer accept payments in response to such advertising. The order is a temporary measure, pending a full hearing before the High Court.

The OFT's case is that Mr Yewdall was involved with misleading advertisements relating to notification with the Information Commissioner under the Data Protection Act 1998.

The adverts had return addresses from all over the country and were issued under various names - Data Protection Agency, Data Protection Agency Registrations, Data Protection Agency Services, National Registrations, Data Protection Registration and Data Protection Registration Services. The ads have been the subject of thousands of complaints.

The OFT has had prior dealings with Yewdall - he gave written assurances to the OFT in August last year that he would not be involved with such advertising again, but it seems he didn't keep his promises.

The OFT was acting under The Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations (CMARs) 1988, which give the OFT the power to step in if the public interest requires that advertisements complained of should be stopped by means of a court order.

While most businesses processing personal data are required by law to notify the Information Commissioner, the fee is only £35 and many small businesses that process personal data for limited purposes are not required to notify. Businesses can notify the Information Commissioner directly.

The OFT has previously taken action against a number of similar mailings and is working closely with the Information Commissioner and local Trading Standards Services to tackle the problem. Unfortunately, to date there has been little in the way of punishment, which means that the practice is not being deterred.

See also:

OFT stops misleading data protection mailings - again <http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?page_id=oftstopsmisleading1054810507&area=news> , OUT-LAW News, 05/06/2003

Misleading data protection ads stopped <http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?page_id=misleadingdataprot1037796262&area=news> , OUT-LAW News, 20/11/2002

OFT stops misleading data protection mailshots <http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?page_id=oftstopsmisleading1036497889&area=news> , OUT-LAW News, 05/11/2002

Misleading data protection ads stopped <http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?page_id=misleadingdataprot1022845437&area=news> , OUT-LAW News, 31/05/2002

-----Original Message-----
From: Graham Smith [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 03 September 2003 12:36
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Lincolnshire Police say "no need for firms to register"


Despite the fact that "the Data Protection Act 1998 requires every data controller who is processing personal data to notify unless they are exempt." (see http://www.dpr.gov.uk/), Lincolnshire Police
(http://www.lincs.police.uk/news/press/wednesday.shtml) are now telling people there is no need to register:

: WARNING OF CON' - Detective Constable Clive Goodere of
: Skegness CID has warned businesses in the Skegness area
: about a potential confidence trick. Letters have been
: received from a company calling themselves, 'Data
: Protection Agency Services' stating that by law the
: recipient must register their company by completing the
: enclosed document and forwarding a registration fee of
: £95 to the address provided. Dc Goodere says it is a
: con' and there is no need for firms to register.

Is this a case of a little learning being a dangerous thing?

--
Graham Smith

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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
       All archives of messages are stored permanently and are
      available to the world wide web community at large at
      http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/data-protection.html
      If you wish to leave this list please send the command
       leave data-protection to [log in to unmask]
            All user commands can be found at : -
        http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm
  (all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please)
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