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2h ago

ICO Fines Two Firms Over Millions of Deceptive Robocalls Targeting UK Households

Investigators found avatar-style systems posing as local advisers, uncovering messages on a director’s phone about evading detection.

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Overview

  • The ICO fined Home Improvement Marketing Ltd £300,000 and Green Spark Energy Ltd £250,000, issuing enforcement notices ordering both to stop unlawful automated marketing calls.
  • Green Spark Energy made more than 9.5 million automated calls between May 2023 and May 2024, while Home Improvement Marketing’s operation generated 2.4 million calls over a three‑month period in 2023.
  • Both companies used avatar software that played pre‑recorded lines voiced by actors and triggered by overseas agents, creating the impression of named UK advisers.
  • Regulators received 497 complaints about Green Spark Energy’s calls, including from elderly people and cancer patients, and recordings included misleading claims about fibreglass insulation that Asthma + Lung UK disputed.
  • A search of director Mathew Terry’s home yielded an iPhone with a telesales objective document and WhatsApp messages about avoiding the ICO, and records show he directs HIM and was a GSE director until March 2024.