ASA crackdown on Indian firm over misleading PPI claim texts

Claims-management companies which bombard people with payment protection insurance (PPI) and accident texts have been slammed by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

In a ruling revealed today, the ASA upheld complaints about the Mumbai-based firm Data Supplier which accused its texts of being misleading, unsolicited and containing claims that could not be substantiated. The ASA rapped the firm for not identifying itself in the texts.

The ASA said there was no evidence that the recipients of the texts had given their consent to be included on Data Supplier's database, which meant it was breaking the advertising Code.

It warned Data Supplier that the texts must not be sent again in their current form.

"We told Data Supplier not to send texts to consumers unless they had their explicit permission to do so," the ASA said. "We also told them not to make claims in their advertising unless they could provide evidence to substantiate them."