A Manchester‑based consultancy has faced one of the largest fines for nuisance marketing in recent years after sending millions of illegal text messages to individuals already struggling with debt.
The firm, KRA Consultancy Ltd, dispatched 5,575,715 unsolicited marketing texts between April 2022 and May 2025, targeting people who had previously been denied loans.
Regulators found that the company deliberately focused on this vulnerable group, knowing that they were especially susceptible to high‑pressure tactics.
The campaign prompted more than 60,000 complaints lodged with the regulatory authority and through a national spam reporting service, making it one of the most extensive cases the watchdog has handled.
In addition to the marketing messages, the firm sent fabricated bailiff threats designed to scare recipients into engaging with its debt‑resolution services. The texts, sent under the sender ID “DEMAND,” warned that an enforcement agent would arrive within 48 hours to seize goods under a court order.
Internal communications recovered during the investigation revealed that the company’s director described the threats as “coaching,” encouraging aggressive sales tactics and assuring that any resistance would be handled the next morning.
The investigation included search warrants executed at the company’s offices and the director’s residence, uncovering evidence that the firm sought to conceal its activities and had attempted to make its bulk texts untraceable through a foreign telecom provider.
Even after the warrants were obtained, the firm resumed its unlawful marketing, generating an additional 161 complaints.
The company failed to verify the accuracy of its loan‑decline data or confirm that recipients had consented to marketing. When questioned about the age of the data, the director dismissed concerns, prioritising profit over compliance.
Regulatory officials condemned the scheme as a calculated, unlawful operation that inflicted real fear and distress on people already in financial difficulty.
The case underscores the legal requirement that businesses obtain clear, specific consent before sending direct marketing texts and must be able to prove both consent and the provenance of the data used.
The enforcement action is part of a broader trend of increasing penalties for spam marketing, following earlier fines of similar magnitude for companies that sent millions of intrusive messages.
Individuals who receive suspicious marketing texts can report them at no cost by forwarding the message to the national spam reporting number.
