The company which ran the sharply-criticised money drop event in Auckland's Aotea Square earlier this month has today been fined $30,000 for spamming people with texts in August.
The Department of Internal Affairs today announced the penalty against Greenback Ecommerce Limited - trading as The Safety Warehouse - which is owned by Andrew Thorne.
The company was found to have breach the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 when it sent out more 4800 unsolicited commercial SMS messages on August 12 this year, prompting complaints.
Safety Warehouse sent nearly 5000 texts trying to sell face masks after the second Covid-19 outbreak in August.
The DIA noted that the company was formally warned earlier this year for spamming customers.
Despite that warning, the company then breach the Act in August, and was issued a civil infringement notice for $300.
The owner of Outback Inn says the likeness of the fake notes to real money is “very, very good”.
Manager of Digital Messaging and Systems at DIA Lisa Wilkin-Krug said she hopes the enforcement encourages other businesses to understand what they can and can't do when messaging people.
"It is vital to obtain the recipient's consent prior to sending a commercial electronic message and to provide a functional unsubscribe facility within the message," Wilkin-Krug said.
The Safety Warehouse’s promotional stunt ended in violence on Saturday.
"Failure to do so can result in enforcement action by DIA."
The Safety Warehouse faced a strong backlash earlier this month when they dropped discount vouchers, along with some cash, during an event in Auckland on December 5.
The company responded to the criticism by saying there was no intent to mislead anyone, and that its staff were assaulted and "mobbed" during the event.
The Commerce Commission is currently investigating the money drop event.
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