A letting agent who unlawfully tried to obtain details about a tenant’s finances from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been found guilty of an attempt to commit an offence under section 55 of the Data Protection Act and the Criminal Attempts Act.
Pinchas Braun, of Tottenham, was fined £200 and ordered to pay a £15 victim surcharge and £728.60 prosecution costs by Highbury Magistrates today.
The offence was uncovered in June 2011 when the DWP received a call from an individual who they believed was fraudulently trying to access the account of a benefit claimant. The DWP investigated before reporting the matter to the ICO.
The ICO’s investigating officers identified the caller as Pinchas Braun. Further enquiries found that Braun worked for a property management and rental business called Manor West Estates and that he was responsible for rent collection. The DWP account that Mr Braun had targeted belonged to one of his employer’s tenants.
Read more of this press release from the Information Commissioner’s Office.