Subscribe Via RSSUnmasked: Spam Boss Charged with Bombarding Britain with 500,000 Spam Messages a Day
Unmasked: Spam boss Jayessh Shah, charged with bombarding Britain with 500,000 spam messages a day charged under the data protection act.
The IT and spam boss charged is, Jayessh Shah. He was exposed by The Mail on Sunday for allegedly bombarding Britons with half a million spam text messages every day has been charged under the Data Protection Act.
Jayessh Shah, is reported to have been plaguing half a million Britons a day with illegal spam texts telling them they are entitled to a refund for mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI).
Apparently he makes millions by selling the numbers of British mobile phone users who respond to his spam messages to claims management companies for between 90p and £7.50 each. Anyone who responded to the texts, including those who indicated that they did not want to receive any more, was regarded as a ‘lead’ by Shah.
He told an undercover reporter: ‘Often you must be receiving [PPI] SMS on your mobile … that is my company.’ Then he boasted: ‘If I was not making millions, I would not be doing this business.’ Shah claimed he was immune from prosecution as his company operated from outside the UK.
- All companies that operate in Britain and handle details such as personal names, addresses and phone numbers are required to tell the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) what they do with the information.
Spam Boss Charged by ICO
The ICO has informed The Mail on Sunday that it has charged Shah with lying to them about what he did with people’s personal data – an offence under the Data Protection Act. Shah registered his IT company, called Vintels, with the ICO, but allegedly failed to declare it sold personal data to other companies.
The ICO began investigating Shah after our story about him in December 2012. A spokesman said: ‘We would like to thank The Mail on Sunday for providing us with information that helped us further our investigation.’
Shah, 42, who divides his time between India and a house in Barnet, North London, is due to appear at Willesden Magistrates’ Court in North London on Tuesday 21 Jan 2014.
