The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has raided residential and business premises linked to five companies believed to be behind 170 million unwanted car finance mis-selling claims text messages.
Search warrants were executed on Wednesday across locations in Bolton, Burnley, Liverpool, London and Swansea, the regulator said.
Massive volume of complaints
The ICO has received more than 12 million complaints about motor finance nuisance texts since September last year, with up to 100,000 reports arriving daily at its peak.
The five companies under investigation have not been named but are suspected of sending a combined 170 million text messages between September 2025 and May this year.
Joint crackdown
The watchdog is working alongside the Financial Conduct Authority, the Advertising Standards Authority and the Solicitors Regulation Authority to tackle poor handling of car finance mis-selling claims.
Andy Curry, head of investigations at the ICO, said: “People are fed up with being bombarded by unwanted calls, texts and emails about car finance claims, and we’re taking action.
“This week’s searches send a clear message to the claims management sector: comply with the law or expect to hear from us.
“We are working closely with our taskforce partners to make sure people are properly informed and protected and we will not hesitate to take further action where we find evidence of wrongdoing.”
