UFAS Trans-Urals Fines Spam Callers; How to Complain

In Kurgan Region, violations of the law on unwanted advertising calls are being recorded. As reported by Aazamat Abdurakhmanov, head of the Kurgan department of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (UFAS), last year the agency received 54 complaints from residents about unwanted advertising calls for which they had not given consent. Of these, 20 violations were identified.

«The main pool of violations is related to spam calls, SMS mailings about various conditions for joining and obtaining loans, and false advertising of bankruptcy services,» the agency head noted. «As a result of these violations, administrative cases were initiated totaling over 2 million rubles ($20,000 at current exchange rates).» One bank that violated the law had to pay a fine of 500,000 rubles ($5,000 at current exchange rates).

Also, residents complain about mobile operators that distribute SMS messages without prior consent of subscribers. One resident received dozens of messages from various services. The mobile operator was held liable.

«Very often such organizations hide behind the fact that when registering on a service, users give consent to receive advertising mailings, but such consent must be targeted, that is, for a specific service, for specific advertising,» explained Aazamat Abdurakhmanov.

Kurgan residents, in accordance with the federal law «On Advertising», can complain about spam calls and messages via the citizen appeals portal of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia. Such applications are signed with an electronic signature. Alternatively, a letter can be sent to the antimonopoly service.

The application must include:

After that, the antimonopoly service will conduct an appropriate check.