OFT swoops down on 19 lead websites without licences
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The Office of Fair Trading has shut down 19 unlicensed lead generation websites.
The websites targeted individuals with disabilities, those connected to the military and people with limited access to credit.
An OFT investigation found they were unlicensed and therefore in breach of the Consumer Credit Act.
The sites have been taken down by the businesses concerned or closed with the cooperation of the website hosts.
The OFT says it is monitoring the situation to see if the sites reappear with different web hosts.
It is also advising consumers to think carefully before putting per-sonal details into lead genera-tion websites.It says that if this information issold on, consumers may find they are subject to un-wanted contact from a number of other companies.
David Fisher, director of con-sumer credit at the OFT, says: “Websites like the ones we have shut down target vulnerable people and those who may not have easy access to credit.”
In January 35 debt management firms surrendered their consumer credit licences to the OFT with a further 15 facing action as a result of a compliance review.
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