Premium-rate phonecall company fined €1,500
A company was fined €1,500 today for making spam calls to five mobile phones.
The company, Fours a Fortune, pleaded guilty last month in the first case of its kind to come before the courts.
After a year-long investigation into Fours a Fortune, having received complaints from a number of individuals, the Data Protection Commission succeeded in its case against the company.
The offences committed against the five individuals in this case involved random calls by the company to their mobile phones and hanging up. When they rang the number back they were encouraged to call a premium rate number and told they would have €50 to play with in a bid to win a €50,000 jackpot. The calls cost €30 for 14 minutes.
Judge Ann Watkins today said she was surprised there was no custodial sentence attached to this legislation and described it as a "serious enough matter".
She fined the company €300 in respect of each of the five individuals
