The Federal Court in Brisbane has imposed $6.5million dollars in penalties against a company and an individual in proceedings brought by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) against SMS spammers. 
These penalties are in addition to the $15.75million imposed on five other respondents on October 23 this year and bring the total amount of penalties in this matter to $22.25million to end-December, 2009.
The Federal Court imposed upon Jobspy Pty Ltd a penalty of $4million and upon Scott Mark Moles a penalty of $2.5million.
ACMA alleged that Jobspy and Mr Moles were involved in a complicated scheme in which they, together with other respondents, established fake dating website profiles to obtain mobile telephone numbers of genuine dating website users. These mobile phone numbers were then sent messages from people pretending to want to meet and form a relationship with the recipient. Users who responded to the messages were charged about $5 per message.
ACMA alleged the scheme had cost Australian mobile phone users in excess of $4million since its commencement in late 2005.
‘This case once again highlights the willingness of the ACMA to pursue, to the full extent of its powers, individuals and companies that systematically operate in breach of the Spam Act,' said Chris Chapman, ACMA chairman.
‘This matter should also serve as a warning to all parties involved in sending commercial electronic messages that non-compliance with the Spam Act can carry with it very significant consequences."
The hearing in relation to the final respondent in the matter, Scott Gregory Phillips, is due to resume in the Federal Court in Brisbane on February 8, 2010.
http://www.spam.acma.gov.au/
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