Colombia fines Claro for abusing the data of millions of clients of other telephone companies

The telephone operator Of course, owned by the Mexican magnate Carlos Slim, was fined $ 250,000 for unauthorized use of the data of millions of customers of other telephone companies in Colombia to sell their products, the local market regulation authority reported on Thursday.

Between 2020 and 2021, the multinational used “the database (…) where all cell phone numbers in the country are registered to carry out massive marketing campaigns, “said the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce (SIC) in a statement.

Some 7.4 million users of other operators received “unauthorized calls” with Claro offers, which obtained “profits” of 3.5 million dollars “for the improper use of the database,” detailed the SIC.

With 33.8 million mobile phone users in ColombiaClaro is the main operator in the country of 50 million inhabitants.

The América Móvil group company has ten days to appeal the decision.

This is the most recent sanction in a long list of penalties ordered by the SIC against Of courseLast year, the regulator imposed a similar fine on it for ignoring contract cancellation requests from thousands of users, and in January, it sanctioned this and other operators for neglecting complaints from their subscribers, among others.