public sector
KRA Consultancy Ltd fined £300K over fake bailiff threats in 'calculated' scheme that caused 'real fear and distress'
"Am I confident on the data set? As long as I'm doing the cases, I don't really give a f*** if it's old as long as it's making money." According to the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), this was part of a message sent by the director of a company fined for targeting financially vulnerable people with unlawful texts, including fake bailiff messages.The message, sent by KRA Consultancy Ltd (KRA) director Khuram Rezvan Ahmad, appeared in the watchdog's monetary penalty notice, which said the firm did not check "the loan decline data was accurate" or whether the recipients had consented to receive marketing messages.
The regulator fined KRA £300,000 last week, saying it had targeted people who were already in financial difficulty and had been turned down for loans. The watchdog described the operation as a "calculated, unlawful scheme," saying the fake bailiff messages had left recipients fearing that bailiffs were coming to their homes to remove their family's belongings.
The ICO said KRA sent fabricated bailiff threats in the hope of scaring recipients so much that they would then engage with the company's debt services. The fake messages were sent using the sender ID "DEMAND."It read: "We have attempted on numerous occasions to contact you without any success. This matter has escalated further and an Enforcement agent will attend ****** within 48 hours to remove your goods as per Court Order. If you are on any legal/debt plan you will need proof readily available."The ICO also claimed the company deliberately tried to evade detection. It alleged that Ahmad had contacted a telecoms provider based in China and sought assurances from the telco that the mass text messages would be "completely untraceable."KRA promoted debt "solutions" to people, sending 5,575,715 unsolicited direct marketing texts between April 2022 and May 2025, the watchdog said.The campaign generated more than 60,000 complaints to the ICO and Mobile UK's 7726 spam-reporting service.The company was not registered with the Financial Conduct Authority, despite directing people towards debt solutions, the ICO added.In internal WhatsApp messages uncovered during its investigation, the ICO said Ahmad used the term "coaching" as a euphemism for the threats."Get through as much as and pitch whatever. Don’t worry about forcing anything back because the coaching will take care of that tomorrow morning."
