Spam breaches cost Optus $504,000

Optus has copped a $504,000 fine for spamming its customers — the largest penalty imposed for breaching the Spam Act.

Optus has copped a $504,000 fine for spamming its customers — the largest penalty imposed for breaching the Spam Act.

The breaches were uncovered by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). The regulator’s chairwoman Nerida O’Loughlin said the investigation had found systemic problems inside the telco.

“We were prompted by consumer complaints to take action and the problems went well beyond IT issues. There were systemic issues around compliance,” she told The Australian.

According to ACMA, between June 1 and December 4, 2018, Optus sent SMS and email marketing messages to consumers after they had unsubscribed. The regulator also found Optus had sent commercial emails in the form of billing notices that did not include a unsubscribe facility.

“This is the second largest infringement notice that has ever been paid to the ACMA, and the largest paid for spamming,” Ms O’Loughlin said.

“It reflects the seriousness of breaches made by Optus and its failure to honour customers’ wishes to unsubscribe — in some cases on multiple occasions.”

Industry sources told The Australian the sending of unwanted marketing material to consumers was a result of a software error, which was brought to light by ACMA’s investigation.

Optus has fixed the identified errors. However, the telco has agreed to the appointment of an independent consultant to review its systems, policies and procedures to ensure they are in compliance with spam rules.

“We acknowledge the ACMA’s action and apologise to customers who received messages in error,” Optus head of regulatory and public affairs Andrew Sheridan said.

Over the last 18 months, businesses have paid a total of $1,127,700 in fines to the ACMA for breaking spam laws.