Virgin Mobile Australia has been slapped with a $22,000 fine by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) for allegedly spamming consumers.

The telco was accused of sending promotional emails to consumers who had opted out of receiving material.

“The key tenet of the Spam Act is that commercial electronic messages cannot be sent without the consent of the recipient. An organisation must respect a person’s desire not to receive commercial electronic messages, even if it is just to ask if they have changed their mind,” said ACMA chairman, Chris Chapman.

In conceding to ACMA’s cliams, Virgin Mobile will pay $22,000 and develop what it refers to as ‘comprehensive training programs, quality assurance processes and an auditing regime’.

The text of the message included: ‘When you joined us you asked not to receive any promotional material. We totally respect that decision and you can remain promo-free as long as you like. To make sure you’re still certain about this choice, we just wanted to quickly show you some examples of recent offers that we’ve sent to customers…’