Posts Tagged ‘Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act’

Largest ever spam penalty handed out in New Zealand

Tuesday, March 4th, 2014
Photo credit; epSos .de on Flickr

Photo credit; epSos .de on Flickr

Auckland company Image Marketing Group (IMG) has been ordered to pay $99,610 in the largest ever penalty imposed for sending spam in New Zealand, last month.

The Department of Internal Affairs said the penalty was imposed at the Auckland High Court under the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act.

IMG sent a total of 519,545 messages to New Zealand e-mail addresses in December 2009, and the following year IMG conducted 21 email campaigns that promoted sales of the company’s database products. The company also sent 44,824 text messages from an Australian mobile number to New Zealand mobile phone users over a period of a month in 2009, said a statement from the department.

“IMG must now stop sending any further spam to New Zealand electronic addresses. This is a clear win for consumers who are sick and tired of receiving unwanted messages via email or texts,” team leader electronic messaging compliance Toni Demetriou said in the statement.

IMG had admitted breaching the Act and the penalties included a discount for IMG’s admissions and co-operation.

To read more about this story, click here.

Serial spammer gets hit with huge fine

Wednesday, September 25th, 2013

In a bit of news that will make anyone with an email inbox smile just a little, an Australian man who spammed New Zealand businesses has been fined $95,000 for doing so.

Photo credit; epSos .de on Flickr

Photo credit; epSos .de on Flickr

Wayne Robert Mansfield of Perth, Western Australia, sent hundreds of thousands of unsolicited emails to individuals ans organisations in New Zealand in 2010. The emails were promoting his company, Business Seminars NZ.

After more than 50 complaints from recipients who said they had no business contact with Mansfield’s company and had continued receiving messages even after unsubscribing from them, the Department of Internal Affairs decided to take legal action against Mansfield under the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act.

High Court Justice Edwin Wylie imposed a fine of $95,000 and awarded costs of more than $8000 against Mansfield in August 2013.

This wasn’t the first time Mansfield has been fined for spamming.

In 2006, Mansfield and his Perth-based company Clarity1 Pty Ltd were fined a total of A$5.5 million in the Australian Federal Court for sending 70 million spam emails to about 5 million recipients between 2004 and 2006.

To read more about this story, click here.