Sofinco, a consumer loan subsidiary of Crédit Agricole, must pay a fine of nearly 170,000 euros for abusive canvassing. The company allegedly contacted customers who were registered on the Bloctel telephone canvassing opposition list.
169,250 euros: this is the amount of the fine received by Sofinco. An administrative sanction imposed by the Departmental Directorate for the Protection of Populations (DDPP) against the subsidiary of Crédit Agricole for telephone canvassing of consumers registered on the list of opposition to telephone canvassing during three campaigns carried out from November 2020 to February 2021, in the absence of contractual relations related to the subject of the telephone calls, reports Fraud Repression.
However, the 2020 law on the subject imposes in particular on professionals making use, directly or indirectly of the telephone prospecting to subscribe Bloctelin order to expunge their files of the numbers which are registered there.
The subsidiary of Crédit Agricole, a specialist in consumer credit, seized the Versailles court to suspend the publication of the sanction, but the court rejected this request, indicates The Inform. It also wishes to challenge the merits of the fine. According to her, very few customers are affected by the disputed canvassing.
Telephone canvassing: what will change
Telephone canvassing: an increasingly supervised practice
In a recent report on telephone canvassing, published on December 7, the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF) indicated that it had inspected 791 establishments. This investigation gave rise to 49 administrative reports: the professionals used unredacted lists of phone numbers of consumers or did not respect the ban on walking by phone in the energy renovation sector.
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from March 1, 2023, a new stage will be reached. Telephone canvassing will be authorized only from Monday to Friday, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. It will be prohibited on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.