SYDNEY, AAP – Three financial services providers have broken spam and telemarketing laws and more are under scrutiny to prevent them offering quick loans to vulnerable people.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has found three companies called or sent emails and texts with unsolicited financial offers.
The chief culprit was Phoenix Securities, which sent more than 3000 unsolicited emails offering business loans.
The company has paid a fine of $26,640.
Phoenix also gave a court-enforceable undertaking allowing a consultant to ensure its systems follow laws such as the Spam Act and Do Not Call Register Act.
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The company must train staff to follow the laws and report its progress to the regulator.
Two other companies signed similar undertakings.
Software development company My Alfred did so after being found to have made 14 calls offering its trading system to numbers on the Do Not Call Register.
Loan broker Pineapple Funding also gave an undertaking after sending 175 unsolicited texts to business owners promoting its services.
ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin said Australians could suffer significant harm when financial services providers broke the rules.
“Those in vulnerable circumstances are particularly at risk when out of the blue they’re offered what sounds like easy money or fast loans,” she said.
Financial services providers were prominent among the businesses to have paid nearly $900,000 in fines to ACMA over the past 18 months.
