Latitude Finance Australia fined $4m for repeated spam law violations
Consensus Summary
Latitude Finance Australia has been fined $3.96 million by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) for repeatedly violating spam laws, marking the second time the company has faced penalties for noncompliance. Between March 2024 and April 2025, Latitude sent 2.3 million marketing messages without accurate contact information, with 344,416 lacking a functional unsubscribe option. The regulator emphasized the severity of the breaches, noting that Latitude had previously been fined $1.5 million in 2022. As part of the settlement, Latitude must now appoint an independent consultant to review and report on its compliance processes. The messages involved promotions for credit card products and financial services, with many instructing recipients to reply with 'STOP' to unsubscribe, though the function often failed. The ABC article additionally notes that Latitude suffered a major cyber attack in March 2023, exposing data of 7.9 million customers, though this detail is not mentioned in NEWSCOMAU.
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Key details reported by multiple sources:
- Latitude Finance Australia was fined $3.96 million by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) for spam breaches.
- Latitude sent 2.3 million marketing messages without accurate contact information between March 2024 and April 2025.
- Of the 2.3 million messages, 344,416 lacked a functioning unsubscribe option.
- Latitude was previously fined $1.5 million in 2022 for similar spam breaches.
- ACMA member Samantha Yorke stated the spam laws have been in place for over 20 years, calling Latitude's repeated noncompliance 'disappointing'.
- Latitude must now engage an independent expert to review and report on its spam compliance processes.
- The spam messages promoted Latitude’s credit card products and financial services.
Points of Difference
Details reported by only one source:
- Latitude reported the matter to ACMA upon discovering non-compliant SMSs and immediately strengthened its spam compliance processes.
- The penalty reflects the severity of the breaches and repeat offending, with Latitude being a 'two-time offender'.
- Ms Yorke added: 'Given Latitude’s history of noncompliance, we will be very closely monitoring how it meets its obligations.'
- Latitude was the target of a major cyber attack in March 2023, where data of 7.9 million customers was stolen, including names, addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, driver’s licence numbers, and income/expense details for 900,000 loan applications.
- A $1 million lawsuit against Latitude by an individual claiming their data reached the dark web after the breach was dismissed by a judge.
- Latitude declined to comment ahead of the penalty being made public.
Contradictions
Conflicting information between sources:
- The ABC article mentions Latitude was fined $1.5 million in 2022, while NEWSCOMAU states the 2022 fine was $1.55 million.
Source Articles
Finance giant hit with $4m spam fine
An Aussie finance giant has copped a massive fine after breaching spam regulations millions of times – despite being fined for similar conduct years before.
Finance giant fined millions for sending unstoppable spam
Latitude Financial has been fined millions of dollars for a repeated breach of spam laws, including promoting credit cards without giving recipients a way to opt-out.