SMS scammers fined $15 million by Queensland court

The fine makes the operators, who breached anti-spam laws, the highest recipient of such a penalty ever handed out in Australia. The guilty individuals posted fake personals profiles on dating web sites to harvest mobile phone numbers and lure lonely men to pay up to $5 per message for SMS sex chat services.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) won injunctions and declarations against two companies and three individuals behind the illegal SMS scam in August. Mobilegate Ltd, Winning Bid Pty Ltd, Simon Anthony Owen, Tarek Andreas Salcedo and Glenn Christopher Maughan were found to have violated trade practice and spamming laws by default.

Mobilegate and Winning Bid were fined $5 million and $3.5m respectively. Mr Owen and Mr Salcedo each received personal fines of $3m while Mr Maughan was fined $1.25m. ACMA said it would continue to pursue three more individuals when the trial proceeds to a full hearing November 30.

Federal Court Justice John Logan described the scam as "a particularly vile form of behaviour".

ACMA's acting chair Chris Cheah also said, "In the ACMA's view the conduct of these respondents was particularly malicious and deceitful as it deliberately and systematically preyed upon vulnerable people, offering false hope and expectations."

The fine surpassed the previous high of $5.5 million - given out by the Western Australia Federal Court in October 2006 - to email marketing company Clarity1 and managing director, Wayne Mansfield.