Company fined £200,000 for instigating unlawful loan promotion nuisance texts

Company directors knowingly facilitated unlawful activity for financial gain-

• Affiliate used 459 different telephone numbers capable of sending up to 546,000 text messages a day-
• ICO received nearly 38,000 complaints

We have fined West Sussex-based company ESL Consultancy Services Ltd (ESL) £200,000 for knowingly instigating unlawful loan promotion nuisance text messages being sent to people who had not consented to receive them.

ESL came to our attention through a separate investigation into Daniel George Bentley, an affiliate marketer and lead generator. During the investigation, Bentley set up Taipan Trading Ltd (TTL) in an apparent attempt to appear more legitimate and in the hope that ESL would make the company an appointed representative with the Financial Conduct Authority. We executed search warrants at addresses linked to Bentley in June 2023 and seized several documents referring to ESL. These included an appointed representative due diligence questionnaire, agreement form and bank account details. Analysis of the evidence led to the ICO executing a search warrant at ESL’s registered address seizing mobile phones, laptops, tablets and external storage drives. Analysis of the devices further identified documents relevant to the our investigation including an appointed representative questionnaire for TTL, Excel files containing personal information and numerous Skype conversations between ESL and TTL discussing their business arrangement.

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