Posted By ipaterson One of our employees had an accident at work several months ago and has just received the following texts to his mobile. The company also phoned him at home. Does anyone know who they might be and how do they get the personal details to contact the injured person. The IP has not and does not intend to claim and is also concerned about the breach in confidentiality this appears to indicate. 077 661 59220 Our records indicate you may be entitled to 3750 pounds for the accident you had. To claim for free reply with Yest to this msg. To opt out txt Stop. 077 978 00425 Our records indicate u maybe entitled to £5000 in compensation for your recent accident. To claim just reply with claim to this msg. 2 stop text stop. Irene

Posted By FAH Hi Irene Whilst it is entirely possible that your organisation has a data leak; it is also entirely possible that sufficient information is found by these vultures legitimately - especially given the time interval since the event that you identify; or even that it's simply a con or try-on in the same mode as computer "phishing" for personal data. May I suggest that the first organisational action for me would be to have the internal data compliance regime thoroughly investigated & evaluated by an independant person to ensure that all whose data is held can be assured of the integrity of the system. This should cover not just technical compliance [meets the DPA requirements] but also the real level of compliance that can be achieved in practice. Should be done regularly in any case!! My advice to the individual would be to delete & NOT respond to these "spam" type texts; not even to opt-out as it proves their phone number is live. Additionally, I would advise them to register with the "Telephone Preference Service" to minimise the potential for further texts &/or calls. There's more, but I'm sure that you can work this out yourself from here. Frank Hallett

Posted By Chris Packham I think the technical term for this is "phishing". I get them regularly. Not only am I self-employed, but I have never had an accident that would qualify. Another telling indication is that they are often exactly the same message from different URLs, thus making it impossible to set my system up to block them. I simply delete them. So whilst a check on your data security system might be worthwhile I would personally not lose too much sleep over this one. Chris

Posted By markbrill After some searching I have found the details of the company who sent these messages: CPN Ltd Ringway House Bell Road Basingstoke RG24 8FB Tel 0870 487 4098 Their website is http://www.claimsjustice.co.uk/ I am going to complain to them directly, and then to the ICO (information Commissioner's Office) and would recommend that anyone else who has received this spam does the same. They also state that they are members of the Compensation Professionals Network Ltd who are regulated by the Ministry of Justice, so I would suggest a complaint to them would also be worth while.