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John Kirk-Anderson / Stuff
Christchurch businessman Andrew Thorn said the cash stunt was “well intentioned.”
The company behind a botched $ 100,000 fake cash stunt in Auckland was fined $ 30,000 for sending unsolicited commercial text messages during the second Covid-19 crash.
The Te Tari Taiwan Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) fined Greenback Ecommerce Ltd, which is listed as The Safety Warehouse, after it was found to have violated the Unsolicited Electronic Message Act 2007.
The DIA began investigating after receiving complaints from the public about receiving text messages that took advantage of the second Covid-19 outbreak to sell face masks and did not provide a service to unsubscribe.
More than 4,800 unsolicited commercial messages were sent to 4,700 mobile numbers on August 12, and more than 80 people received multiple text messages, the DIA found.
READ MORE:
* The Man Behind the Safety Warehouse Fake Cash Stunt: Who is Andrew Thorn?
* Counterfeit money used to buy drinks at the Hamilton nightclub
* Anger, violence after handing over of fake money in a $ 100k cash drop
* Is the Department of Internal Affairs being controlled or are there ghosts roaming its halls?
This is not the first time that the DIA has taken action against the company.
RNZ
The fake money fall is now in the hands of the Commerce Commission.
Earlier this year, the company received a formal warning for sending similar messages.
The Safety Warehouse then further broke the law in August and a $ 300 civil violation notice was issued.
DIA spokeswoman Lisa Wilkin-Krug said she hoped the app’s output would encourage companies to ensure their e-marketing was compliant.
“It is vital to obtain the consent of the recipient before sending a commercial electronic message and to provide a functional unsubscribe function within the message. Failure to do so may result in enforcement action by DIA, “Wilkin-Krug said.
This isn’t the first time Andrew Thorn, 28, who is behind Safety Warehouse, has been in trouble, with the Commerce Commission now investigating the “cash crash.”
Since then, Thorn has argued in defense of his business and the gimmick, saying he supported the “marketing and what aired at the event.”
It claimed that the counterfeit bills added to the cash drop “after risk assessments were conducted to help mitigate offensive behavior among customers.”
