82,000 Unwanted Texts Equals $300,000 Fine For Australian Business

4WD Supacentre, which sells camping and outdoor gear, was fined over $300,000 for sending 82,000 messages. Ian Waldie/Getty Images

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has fined outdoor product retailer 4WD Supacentre $302,500 (US$199,000) for sending 82,000 texts without having gained the recipients’ consent.

It also sent 1,575 messages to customers who had unsubscribed. The offences occurred over six months.

Under Australia’s Spam Act, businesses must obtain consent before sending marketing messages, and provide recipients with an unsubscribe option.

The business has also been subjected to a three-year court-enforceable undertaking that requires it to appoint an independent consultant to review its compliance with spam laws and detail any necessary changes.

Five Warnings

In the 11 months before ACMA began its investigation, it sent five spam compliance alerts to 4WD Supacentre.

“It’s so disappointing [they] didn’t take the opportunity to adequately address the problems before we had to step in,” said ACMA member Samantha Yorke.

“Businesses have a responsibility not to send unwanted spam and also to respect people’s wishes when they ask to stop receiving these messages.”

Although the company outsourced much of its marketing to a third-party provider, they were still responsible for ensuring that compliance obligations were met.

This was the second time the 4WD Supacentre has been fined by a regulator. In 2020, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) imposed a $63,000 penalty after finding the business had misled consumers over pricing in a “was/now” campaign.

The Commission said none of the best-selling products advertised had been sold at the “was” price in the previous three months.

Banks, Retailers, Delivery Services Also In Breach

Other businesses have also been found to have breached Australia’s spam laws.

In June last year, Commonwealth Bank was fined a record $3.55 million (US$2.35 million) after it sent 65 million emails to customers that breached the Spam Act. More than 61 million of those unlawfully required customers to log in to unsubscribe.

At the time, ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin said, “The failure to fix the issues shows a complete disregard for the spam rules and the rights of its customers.”

Then in November, Kmart was ordered to pay a $1.3 million (US$860,000) fine for sending more than 200,000 marketing emails to people who had already unsubscribed.

ACMA had previously warned both the bank and the retailer that their practices did not meet the legal standards. Both were also required to hire independent consultants to ensure future compliance.

DoorDash and Ticketek have all been hit with similar penalties in recent months, while Uber was fined more than $400,000 in October last year after it sent more than two million marketing emails to customers without providing them with a way to unsubscribe.