Call center fined for unauthorized advertising

Call center fined for unauthorized advertising

The German call center company SG Sales and Distribution GmbH received a fine of €300,000 from the Federal Network Agency. The call center had contacted more than 1,400 consumers to persuade them to sign contracts with electricity and gas suppliers. The persons concerned had not consented to any advertising, so these calls were illegal.

In addition, the call center used manipulative conversation and other underhanded tricks to convince consumers to switch. For example, they introduced themselves as “independent rate optimizers,” provided consumers with untrue or misleading information about energy price trends, or posed as employees of the consumer’s current energy supplier in order to gain the trust of those affected. In some cases, the employees even appeared as employees of a fictitious “German Electricity Optimization Authority” or even the Federal Network Agency. At the end of some conversations, the people concerned were then assumed to have signed a contract. Calling prohibitions were ignored. For this, the maximum penalty awaited.

Entscheidungsdatum:
18.12.2018

Land:
Germany

Art des Verstoßes:
violated rights of the data subject

Betroffene Datensätze:
over 1,400

Waren sensible Daten betroffen?:
No

verhängte Geldstrafe:
€ 300,000,-

Quelle:
https://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/DE/2018/20181218_Telefonwerbung.html