Estate Agent Today

Estate agents who received an email from the OFT showing about 450 addresses of all the recipients have received an apology – and been told to destroy the email or risk breaching the Data Protection Act.

But some angry agents have already complained of receiving messages as a result of the email and told the OFT that its instruction comes too late.

The OFT has also reported itself to the Information Commissioner’s Office, which has responsibility for data protection. The OFT may have to sign an undertaking about how it will send out future communications.

The original email was sent out last Friday to money laundering reporting officers in estate agency firms and businesses which arrange credit.

It was a request for the recipients to take part in a consultation on money laundering.

But, in an extraordinary blunder, the email showed every single recipient’s contact information in the address line – potentially exposing to crooks those with the sensitive job of reporting money laundering suspicions.

The mistake could not have come at a worse time, with estate agents already up in arms over having to register for anti-money laundering purposes with the OFT in order to avoid trading illegally.

Yesterday, the director of anti-money laundering at the OFT, John Parker, wrote to those who had received last Friday’s email.

“I am writing to apologise for the fact that the OFT may have inadvertently disclosed to you and others information it should not have done. 

“In your role as a Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) for a business supervised by the OFT you were sent an email on Friday 12 February entitled ‘Information for Money Laundering Nominated Officer’ advising of the launch of the OFT’s consultation on its future supervisory role. Our aim was to encourage those supervised by the OFT to participate in the consultation and shape our future regime.

“I regret that an error in sending the message has resulted in you and others receiving details of MLRO email addresses in the ‘To’ field of the email.

“The OFT takes its responsibility under the Data Protection Act very seriously, and we have therefore contacted the Information Commissioner’s Office which has responsibility for overseeing implementation of the Data Protection Act. 

“In the meantime the list of e-mail addresses that you received may constitute personal data of those named and should not be disclosed further. As you may know, processing (which includes use and disclosure of) personal data for a purpose which is incompatible with the purpose for which it was obtained is a breach of the Data Protection Act 1998. I therefore now have to ask you to delete the email from the OFT of 12 February and to destroy any copies (in whatever form) made.

“You will understand the necessity of this to ensure that any further disclosure or processing of this information is prevented. I am sorry to have to write to you in these rather formal terms. 

“Please also accept my sincere apology for the disclosure of your email address to other businesses. I understand that this may have caused you distress or inconvenience and recognise that the error made was unacceptable. I will take the necessary steps to ensure that this is not repeated.”