Sunday, October 21, 2007
Data Protection Scams (Again)
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DATA PROTECTION SCAMS
This is a recurring issue for UK firms, just when you think it is dead and buried the scam operators return, quite cunning really, there are a lot of new companies that have begun trading since this issue gained widespread publicity, they are now vulnerable to the tried and tested tricks of yesteryear.
The Trick is very simple, you get a letter that looks like an official notification of your requirement to register with the Information Commissioner, however it is in fact a misleading advert from a company that will charge you several times the actual fee and in some cases will not actually do the necessary paperwork!
The latest misleading adverts come a company in Blackpool, requesting a fee of over £100. Ignore such mailshots, (better still take them to your local trading standards who can decide if they are legal or not)
Companies holding personal data should notify the Information Commissioner, this Costs £35, letters demanding fees in excess of £35 are almost certainly bogus.
Need to know if you should notify, see
http://www.ico.gov.uk/what_we_cover/data_protection/notification/do_i_need_to_notify.aspx
More on data Protection scams
http://stopecg.org/dataprotection.htm
Yours,
Jules
.
DATA PROTECTION SCAMS
This is a recurring issue for UK firms, just when you think it is dead and buried the scam operators return, quite cunning really, there are a lot of new companies that have begun trading since this issue gained widespread publicity, they are now vulnerable to the tried and tested tricks of yesteryear.
The Trick is very simple, you get a letter that looks like an official notification of your requirement to register with the Information Commissioner, however it is in fact a misleading advert from a company that will charge you several times the actual fee and in some cases will not actually do the necessary paperwork!
The latest misleading adverts come a company in Blackpool, requesting a fee of over £100. Ignore such mailshots, (better still take them to your local trading standards who can decide if they are legal or not)
Companies holding personal data should notify the Information Commissioner, this Costs £35, letters demanding fees in excess of £35 are almost certainly bogus.
Need to know if you should notify, see
http://www.ico.gov.uk/what_we_cover/data_protection/notification/do_i_need_to_notify.aspx
More on data Protection scams
http://stopecg.org/dataprotection.htm
Yours,
Jules
Labels: Data Protection, Dataprotection, DPA, scam
