Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it an offence to send a scamming email to a vulnerable person.

Direct marketing, including spam emails, are regulated by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR) which is enforced by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the independent data protection regulator. PECR regulates unsolicited marketing emails and specifies organisations must only send these to individuals who have agreed to receive them, except where there is a clearly defined customer relationship.

The ICO has the powers to impose civil monetary penalties of up to £500,000 for serious contraventions of the PECR. In cases where a clear and serious breach of the legislation has taken place, the ICO will take direct action and/or enforcement action.

In a situation where someone sends a scam email with the intention of defrauding another person, this conduct is already likely to constitute an offence under the Fraud Act 2006.