Australian financial giant Latitude Finance Australia has been fined almost $4 million after regulators found it had racked up a staggering number of spam breaches.
In a statement, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found Latitude fell foul of the country’s spam laws no fewer than 2.7 million times.
It issued 2.3 million marketing messages without accurate contact information, of which 344,416 did not have a functioning unsubscribe function
ACMA issued Latitude a whopping penalty of $3.96m.
Authority member Samantha York said the size of the penalty reflected the severity of the breaches – and repeat offending.
It came after the company was ordered to pay $1.55 for similar breaches in 2022.
Ms Yorke said: “Latitude is now a two-time offender and it is disappointing that it let consumers down again.”
“The spam laws have been in place for more than 20 years, there is simply no excuse for ongoing noncompliance, particularly after previous enforcement action,” she continued.
The offending messages promoted the company’s credit card products and financial services.
And while many of the communications told recipients they could reply with the word ‘STOP’ to unsubscribe, several of the messages were not capable of fulfilling this option.
Ms Yorke added: “Given Latitude’s history of noncompliance, we will be very closely monitoring how it meets its obligations.”
In a statement issued to the Australian Stock Exchange on Wednesday morning, the company acknowledged the ACMA finding and penalty.
It reads: “Upon becoming aware that it had sent potentially non-compliant SMSs, Latitude reported the matter to the ACMA and immediately strengthened its spam compliance processes.
“As part of the enforceable undertaking, Latitude will engage an independent expert to confirm that its strengthened spam processes are operating compliantly.”