According to the estimation carried out by Dutch consumer authority “Consumentenautoriteit”, Dutch people suffer almost EUR 100 million losses from telemarketing fraud each year. More than 5% of people have experienced sneaky practices by telemarketers using landlines and mobile numbers to push their schemes.
2009 will be a year of change for Netherlands. The Consumentenautoriteit will start targeting fraudulent and aggressive telemarketing practice armed with new laws and assisted by the Dutch Telecoms regulator OpTa. Consumer authority plans to concentrate on targeting the mass marketing carried out via SMS and MMS services.
If you are found guilty in sending unsolicited SMS or making unsolicited telemarketing calls in Netherlands, you can be a subject of fines measuring in tens of thousands Euros. Many companies have been fined last year and it is suspected that more will get caught this year.
Although European Union regulates the law of telemarketing, nobody has benefited from the formal EU laws - European countries have to establish their own ways of dealing with fraudulent telemarketers.
To learn more, please visit the Dutch Consumentenautoriteit information page.
