Archive for the ‘Spam Act’ Category

Australian spammer gets hit with huge fine

Wednesday, September 11th, 2013

In a bit of news that will make anyone with an email inbox smile just a little, an Australian man who spammed New Zealand businesses has been fined $95,000 for doing so.

Wayne Robert Mansfield of Perth, Western Australia, sent hundreds of thousands of unsolicited emails to individuals ans organisations in New Zealand in 2010. The emails were promoting his company, Business Seminars NZ.

After more than 50 complaints from recipients who said they had no business contact with Mansfield’s company and had continued receiving messages even after unsubscribing from them, the Department of Internal Affairs decided to take legal action against Mansfield under the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act.

High Court Justice Edwin Wylie imposed a fine of $95,000 and awarded costs of more than $8000 against Mansfield in August 2013.

This wasn’t the first time Mansfield has been fined for spamming.

In 2006, Mansfield and his Perth-based company Clarity1 Pty Ltd were fined a total of A$5.5 million in the Australian Federal Court for sending 70 million spam emails to about 5 million recipients between 2004 and 2006.

To read more about this story, click here.

Heavy fine for SMS Spammer

Friday, December 3rd, 2010

Scott Gregory Phillips was fined $2.5 million by the Federal Court, Brisbane, for obtaining the mobile numbers of people from online dating sites and sending them unsolicited texts, some of which were charged for it.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority took proceedings against Mr Phillips for breaches of the Spam Act and the Trade Practies Act., with Mr Phillips being the first person in Australia who had contested the contraventions of the Spam Act.

Justice Logan of the Federal Court is quoted as saying that Mr Hillips was “…at the most senior level…it it involved systematic and studied deception of those who use internet dating websites.”

Read the full SMH article here.