7:55 am, September 18, 2024
A used car saleman has been slapped with a hefty fine after he admitted to illegally selling customers’ personal information.
Alexander Doré lined his own pockets by swiping more than 3,600 pieces of sensitive information from the customer database of his employer, Leaseline Vehicle Management Ltd.
Claiming that the data belonged to him, the 44-year-old approached several rival companies to ask whether they wanted to buy the information.
The breach was discovered in November 2022, shortly after Doré resigned from his position, sparking an investigation by the the Intellectual Property Office (IPO).
Following an inquiry, Doré has now appeared at St Albans Crown Court, where he pleaded guilty to a breach of section 170 of the Data Protection Act 2018.
Yesterday (Sep 17) he was handed a £1,200 fine and ordered to pay costs totalling £300.
Reacting to the sentence, Andy Curry, head of investigations at the IPO, said: ‘Customers put their trust in any number of organisations on a daily basis to use and store their data in a legal and appropriate way.
‘Mr Doré took advantage of that trust, as well as the trust of his employers, by taking customer information that he then passed on to other companies, purely for his own financial gain.
‘It is with great thanks to Leaseline Vehicle Management Ltd that they brought Mr Doré’s wrongdoing to our attention, and we were able to investigate.
‘We hope this successful prosecution shows we will work with companies to bring those committing crimes to justice.’
Car Dealer has approached Leaseline Vehicle Management Ltd for comment.
Main image: St Albans Crown Court (©Nick Ansell/PA Archive/PA Images)
