Sole trader dispatched almost 1M spam texts to hard-up Brits, says watchdog
- Reference: 1761738401
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/10/29/ico_spam_text_fine/
- Source link:
Bharat Singh Chand sent 966,449 messages about debt solutions and energy saving grants from 383 mobile numbers between December 3, 2023, and July 3, 2024, according to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). This resulted in the fine [1]confirmed today .
Home improvement marketers dial up trouble from regulator [2]READ MORE
The activities of the Carmarthenshire sole trader, who has appealed against the decision, came to the attention of the regulator during a separate investigation into someone suspected of sending texts on behalf of Chand and giving advice about a SIM farm.
The messages, the ICO claims, didn't include a website address or any identifying information about the sender, simply inviting the recipient to reply "YES" to find out more about debt services. Those that replied in the affirmative received a phone call from a company calling themselves "The Debt Relief Team."
When officials from the ICO visited Chand's home with a search warrant on June 11 last year, he denied involvement in the scheme "despite a call script being on open display," the watchdog said.
[3]
Other "evidence" included WhatsApp messages between Chand and a third party that involved "discussing excuses to provide to another related ICO investigation" in which he appeared to encourage another person to "lie" in response to a letter sent by the Commissioner.
[4]
[5]
A whopping 19,138 complaints were received about the spam texts via the 7726 spam reporting service. The ICO penalized Chand, saying he "knowingly and deliberately transmitted or instigated the transmission of 966,449 text messages without valid consent, breaking direct marketing rules."
[6]Capita fined £14M after 58-hour delay exposed 6.6M records
[7]Claims assistance firm fined for cold-calling people who put themselves on opt-out list
[8]Law firm 'didn't think' data theft was a breach, says ICO. Now it's nursing a £60K fine
[9]Data watchdog fines Clearview AI $33M for 'illegal' data collection
Chand has been a registered director of seven companies: Compensation Claims Direct, Consumer Claims Ltd, Consumer Marketing Solutions Limited, Platinum Home Designs Ltd, Databook Ltd, Bombay Bites Takeaway Ltd, and Blue Box Pictures Ltd.
Menacing marketeers fined by ICO for 1.9M cold calls [10]READ MORE
Andy Curry, ICO head of investigations, said in a statement: "These text messages not only caused a nuisance to many thousands of recipients, but were clearly targeted at people who are at greater risk of harm; such as those facing financial hardship.
"Chand showed blatant disregard of the law and attempted to mislead the ICO during our investigation. We've taken action to protect the public from the stress and misery these messages can cause."
Because Chand appealed, the 20 percent discount on the £200,000 fine – which would have applied if it had been paid by October 16 – is not available, the ICO said. ®
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[1] https://ico.org.uk/media2/35jfcqk0/mpn-bharat-singh-chand.pdf
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/17/ico_cold_call_fines/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aQJIKRC6JDRJmtF5MO_kSgAAAAQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aQJIKRC6JDRJmtF5MO_kSgAAAAQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aQJIKRC6JDRJmtF5MO_kSgAAAAQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/15/ico_fines_capita_14m/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/25/claims_assistance_firm_hit_with/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/16/law_firm_ico_fine/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/03/clearview_ai_dutch_fine/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/21/ico_fines_another_bad_bunch/
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Luxury! From now on he's only allowed to communicate via semaphore.
When it's foggy outside.
What I would be more interested in .....
..... would be the story that they actually managed to get the money from this twunt.
It's all well and good making these announcements that someone has been fined for these types of actions. But as I understand it they only seem to get about 5% of the fines actually paid.
Re: What I would be more interested in .....
This case might fall into the 5%, since for once there's no "corporate veil".
OTOH, there's personal bankruptcy as an option, though AIUI that's not trivial.
Re: What I would be more interested in .....
If, as the article states, the acts were carried out as a sole trader, then he is personally liable for all business debts.
Of the list of companies at the end of the article, only "Compensation Claims Direct" doesn't seem to be established with limited liability. If that's the case, then whether or not the full amount of the fine is paid, he's screwed & they'll be able to lay claim to his house and anything with his/his spouse's name on.
(Icon: No escape!)
"Those that replied in the affirmative..."
What sort of person does so?
Have you ever met your fellow human beings?
I try to avoid that as much as possible.
It's always flu season somewhere..
Vulnerable people at the end of their tether.
Andy CURRY investigating Bharat Singh Chand - right person for the task... ;-)
The problem is that despite thousands of complaints he was allowed to continue to continue his activities for so long using a network of dodgy business names.
In many cases the perpetrators of this sort of crime simply set up using a different company name and start all over again having taken all money out of the Limited Liability Company.
The authorities need to act faster (an under-resourced government department)
Companies House needs to stop serial scammers setting up new businesses
The authorities need to go after the perpetrators' personal assets.
And they need to remove body parts. Starting with fingers
.
Ban him from having anything more sophisticated than an old Nokia 3210.