The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined Join The Triboo Limited £130,000 for what it called a “egregious” violation of the law.
Join The Triboo Limited sent 107 million spam emails to 437,324 people between August 2019 and August 2020, meaning that each individual would have received on average 244 emails during that year.
It is against the law to send direct marketing to anyone without their given consent, as stipulated in the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003.
Join The Triboo Limited describes itself primarily as an operative of job search websites. The company operated five websites, four of which were job advertisement websites including ‘uk.job-search.online’; ‘uk.jobinaclick.net’; ‘uk.jobs4you.website’; and, ‘findajob.website’. It is through these websites that they sourced the data for their spam email campaign.
“It’s an issue many of us face – opening up our email inboxes and it being filled with emails we did not ask for or consent to. This shouldn’t just be considered a fact of life – it is against the law.
We provide advice and support to legitimate companies that want to comply with the law. Last year, we released updated direct marketing guidance to help those very businesses.
That is, however, not what was happening in this case. This company did not properly seek permission from the people it chose to bombard with spam emails. The company used job seeking websites as a key component in its unlawful campaign.
In taking this action, we say to the public that we will continue to be on your side and protect you, and we say to any other organisation operating outside of the law that we will pursue every case like this brought to us to the fullest extent.”
– Andy Curry, ICO Head of Investigations
Advice for members of the public
If you receive a marketing email that you don’t want from an identifiable and legitimate UK based organisation that you know and trust, you should first use the ‘unsubscribe’ link provided on the email. The organisation should then stop sending you marketing emails. Legitimate, well-known companies will offer opt-outs, and in many cases things can be resolved quickly without us getting involved.
Alternatively you could email the organisation to tell the sender about the problem and ask them to stop sending you marketing emails (remembering to keep a copy of any correspondence). You should allow them time to put things right.
However, if you continue to receive marketing emails from the organisation despite using the ‘unsubscribe’ link you may wish to report this to the ICO.
If you are not sure whether the email is genuine, or if it comes from an organisation you don’t recognise, you should avoid replying or clicking on any link as this might confirm your email is live and make you a target for more spam emails. You can report receipt of these emails to the ICO.
Every complaint counts, with the ICO issuing over £2 million in penalties against rogue companies responsible for nuisance calls, texts and emails in 2022. Some of these investigations began with a single complaint from a member of the public. The ICO routinely works closely with other regulators and industry partners to share intelligence and take targeted action against companies and directors responsible for initiating nuisance calls.
For more information and guidance on spam emails visit Spam emails.
