CommBank fined $7.5 million for spamming customers
The big four banks have been forced to pay a second time after sending more than 170 million spam messages to Australian consumers.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) was forced to pay a $7.5 million fine after an Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) investigation found the bank spammed millions of its customers .
According to ACMA, CBA sent more than 170 marketing messages to its customers without any way to unsubscribe between November 2022 and April 2024.
Additionally, 34.8 million of them were sent to consumers who had withdrawn consent or never consented to receiving marketing materials.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time the CBA has been in the spotlight: it paid a $65 million fine in 2023. Nerida O’Loughlin, president of the ACMA, said the behavior of the bank was “unacceptable”.
“Last year, the ACMA took action against CBA for failing to respect its customers’ right to unsubscribe from marketing messages. We have now had to take further action after this new investigation revealed that the CBA had incorrectly classified millions of messages as non-commercial,” O’Loughlin said.
“Australians are fed up with this kind of spam intruding on their privacy, and it’s clear the CBA didn’t have its systems in order.
“The rules are clear: if a message includes marketing content or direct links to marketing content, it is a commercial message and must give people the opportunity to unsubscribe.
“We have seen several companies get this wrong, and companies are required to review how they classify messages as commercial or non-commercial.”
The ABC also committed to a three-year commitment to resolve its compliance issues.
“We will continue to closely monitor compliance with our commitments and compliance with spam laws,” Mr O’Loughlin said.
CBA reported net profit after tax of $9.8 billion for the 2024 financial year.
