ICO launches probe into private investigator clients

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is to investigate if companies that used private investigators breached data protection legislation.

The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) has given the ICO a list of 98 companies and individuals alleged to have used rogue investigators, together with 20 files collected from its inquiries. Details relating to nine further clients were withheld by SOCA after a request by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), which is conducting its own criminal investigation.

SOCA had compiled the list as part of Operation Millipede, its inquiry into the use of private investigators and ‘blagging’ personal information, which saw four men convicted of fraud offences in 2012.

The ICO will write to all those named to inform them of the investigation, which aims to establish what information was provided by private investigators, how it was obtained and whether clients were aware of any potential illegality. The investigation is expected to take “several months”.

Under new measures unveiled by Home Secretary Theresa May in July, anyone caught acting as or hiring the services of an unlicensed private investigator could face six months in prison and a £5,000 fine.