Million's data stolen in huge nuisance call case

Eight men have been convicted over an investigation into the theft of personal details from repair garages across the UK "snowballed" into one of the largest nuisance call cases the Information Commissioner's Office "has ever dealt with".

The ICO said it began investigating after the owner of a car repair garage in County Durham reported concerns that customers were blaming him for the calls they were receiving.

Officers went on to seize and analyse 4.5 million documents,144,000 spreadsheets, 241,000 emails, 1.5 million images and 83,000 multimedia files and uncover multiple crimes carried out between 2014 and 2017.

The eight men from Greater Manchester and Cheshire will be sentenced at a later date at Bolton Crown Court.

An ICO representative said a 10-week trial heard how its officers seized the "widest body of evidence it has ever seen", which highlighted the misuse of personal data for nuisance calls to persuade people to make personal injury claims.

"The ICO initially started this investigation in 2016 when the owner of a car repair garage in County Durham contacted the regulator, saying he was worried his customers blamed him for the nuisance calls they were receiving about personal injury claims," they said.

"From this first initial complaint, the investigation snowballed into one of the largest nuisance call cases the ICO has ever dealt with, resulting in a wealth of evidence that demonstrated misuses of personal data for the purpose of making calls relating to personal injury claims."

They said the men were found to have conspired together between 2014 and 2017, accessing and obtaining personal data of approximately a million people from vehicle repair garages without their consent.

"This data was then sold on to claims management firms hoping to generate potential leads for personal injury claims," they said.

The convicted men were:

• Craig Cornick, 39, of Macclesfield, was found guilty of conspiracy to unlawfully obtain personal data
• Thomas Daly, 35, admitted two counts of conspiracy to unlawfully obtain personal data
• Vincent McCartan, 31, of Failsworth; Ian Flanagan, 40, of Macclesfield; Mark Preece, 44, of Manchester; Kiernan Thorlby, 35, of Macclesfield, admitted conspiracy to unlawfully obtain personal data and conspiracy to secure unauthorised access to data held on computer systems
• Adam Crompton, 35, of Middlewich, admitted two counts of conspiracy to unlawfully obtain personal data
• Fahad Moktadir, 32, of Stockport, admitted conspiracy to unlawfully obtain personal data, the ICO said

The ICO representative said the men would face a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing in July, while sentencing would take place at a later date.

They added that there was an "ongoing second phase" of its investigation and it was anticipated that "further prosecutions" would take place of people "embedded into insurance companies and claims management companies with the sole aim of stealing personal data".

Speaking after the hearing, ICO head of investigations Andy Curry said the case had "uncovered a vast, murky criminal network where crash details were stolen from garages across England, Scotland and Wales and traded to fuel distressing predatory calls".

"Most of us have had nuisance calls asking if we've been in a crash," he said.

"At best they're annoying but at worst they cause real upset and fear, especially to vulnerable people, and have a real impact on the businesses affected.

"This has been an enormous and complex case which has seen ICO staff use both technical expertise and investigative skills to work tirelessly to track down those responsible and hold them accountable on behalf of the public."

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