Investigator fined for blagging details from Government department

The company and its managing director must pay £8,200 in fines and costs.

Infofind Ltd pleaded guilty to charges brought by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) of illegally 'blagging' personal details and selling them to a finance firm.

The company and its managing director Nick Munroe were convicted at Kingston Magistrates' Court of 44 counts of unlawfully obtaining and selling personal data. They have been fined £3,200 and ordered to pay costs of £5,000.

Infofind was found guilty of breaching the Data Protection Act in order to trace outstanding debtors on behalf of finance company On:Line Finance. The company acted unlawfully despite signing an agreement with On:Line Finance that it would comply with the Act.

The company was fined £100 per offence, and Munro £700 per offence, totalling £3,200.

Infofind had obtained information by phoning the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and pretending to be staff members of that department, a practice known as pretexting. The callers then convinced officials to disclose personal information about individuals from DWP files.

"Obtaining and selling personal information is a serious offence which can be highly damaging to the individuals concerned," said Philip Taylor, a solicitor at the ICO. "This prosecution is the result of a thorough investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office and is part of our ongoing work to stop the illegal trade in personal information."

The ICO said that it was working with the DWP to try to ensure that such a security breach does not happen again.

“Individuals must be confident that their personal information is stored securely by those organisations which hold and process it," said Taylor. "The ICO is working with the Department for Work and Pensions to provide training for employees on how to deal with these bogus callers.”