Dishing the dirt on direct mail

The Data Protection Registrar has many powers, but cannot stop pranksters from making chumps out of the direct marketing industry.

One acquaintance of the Diary has suffered a barrage of unwelcome direct mail. He was the victim of a prankster who used his address to target him with dozens of mail-outs using phoney, and often obscene, names. He received letters from insurance companies, banks and catalogues to “A. Prycke”,

“W. Anker” and “The Felching School For Young Boys”, to name but a few.

The final straw came when the acquaintance received a call from an angry saleswoman ticking him off for wasting her time. She would not say which name had been used this time, but said she was not fooled.

The poor chap has been forced by the DM industry to change his phone number.