Security News > 2021 > May > Amex fined £90,000 for sending 4 million spam emails in a year
The UK data regulator has fined American Express £90,000 for sending over 4 million spam emails to customers within one year.
"During the investigation the ICO found that Amex had sent over 50 million, of what it classed as, servicing emails to its customers," the UK Information Commissioner's Office said.
"The ICO revealed that for nearly 12 months, between 1 June 2018 and 21 May 2019, 4,098,841 of those emails were marketing emails, designed to encourage customers to make purchases on their cards which would benefit Amex financially."
As the data regulator discovered, complaints showed the messages were instead direct marketing emails sent to customers who opted out.
By sending marketing emails to those who didn't freely consent to receive them, Amex broke Regulation 22 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 that give people specific privacy rights in relation to electronic communications.
"The emails in question all clearly contained marketing material, as they sought to persuade and encourage customers to use their card to make purchases."