Tuition agency, director fined S$80,000 for DNC breaches

SINGAPORE — A tuition agency and its director — the first to be charged with breaching the Do Not Call (DNC) Registry requirements — were fined a total of nearly S$80,000 yesterday.

Law Han Wei, 35, and his company, Star Zest Home Tuition, were each fined S$39,000 after pleading guilty to 13 of the 37 charges which the prosecution proceeded on.

They were fined S$3,000 for every charge.

The State Courts heard that between Jan 2 and April 2, the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) received a total of 405 complaints from 313 people, who said they had received messages from the tuition agency despite registering their telephone numbers with the DNC Registry.

Under the Personal Data Protection Act, companies have been banned since Jan 2 from sending marketing messages to any number listed on the registry without first getting the owner’s consent.

Star Zest — which was set up in 1999 and provides middleman services, matching private tutors to students — conducts telemarketing activities to advertise its services.

At the time the offences were committed, it had 12 staff, five of whom were based in Singapore and the rest in the Philippines. One employee in the Philippines was in charge of its day-to-day operations, although Law had the final say on all matters.

Between Jan 3 and Jan 14, Law and Star Zest sent messages to mobile subscribers to market the services of its tutors. The court heard that he had instructed the agency’s IT personnel — whom he said would send out the telemarketing messages using a laptop in the Philippines — to discontinue sending out specified messages on Jan 8 and to withdraw the telemarketing services on Jan 15.

However, investigations showed that the PDPC continued to receive about 160 complaints after Jan 8.

In mitigation, Law who represented himself, said he thought the DNC rules would kick in only in February.

“I say sorry to the public, PDPC and (I will) comply with the provision,” said Law, who requested to be allowed to pay the fine in instalments.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Yan Jiakang said a “rigorous deterrent sentence” should be imposed to deter companies engaged in telemarketing activities from not checking the DNC Registry before sending out messages, in order to protect the private space of individuals.

Anyone found guilty under the Personal Data Protection Act could be fined up to S$10,000 on each charge.