Danish spammer fined £37k

Gotcha!

A Danish company flogging telecoms kit has been fined a record £37,000 for sending spam.

A Danish court handed down the Danish Krone 400,000 fine today after the company - Aircom Erhverv ApS - was found guilty of sending 15,000 unsolicited commercial faxes.

Denmark, like the UK, is one of six European countries so far to have introduced new anti-spam laws based on an EU directive.

In the UK, spammers can expect to receive fines of up to £5,000 if the case makes it to a Magistrates' Court. Should they opt to have their case heard by a Crown Court then spammers face an unlimited fine.

Of course, that legislation has only just been introduced in the UK and it could be at least a year before the first cases of spamming come before a court.

In the meantime, there's always the Advertising Standards Authority's (ASA) to give offenders a ticking off. Like the one today, where a London-based spammer was told off for sending "several e-mails" for a prank telephone call service and for a CDROM. ®