​Information Commissioner investigates alleged data breach after elderly man loses £35,000

An investigation is to be undertaken after it was claimed an 87 year old was scammed out of £35,000 after his data was sold on by charities over 200 times.

A newspaper alleged information was passed to charities when Samuel Rae filled in a survey but did not tick a box stating that he did not want his personal details shared.

Now England’s Information Commissioner is to investigate whether there has been any breaches of law.

It was reported that a range of charities contacted him for up to five years after he had asked them to stop with some asking for cash from the pensioner 38 times in one year.

Former army colonel Mr Rae, from Cornwall, is said to have been contacted by and asked for money by charities more than 730 times after his data was repeatedly sold.

Most alarmingly it is claimed some charities passed Rae’s personal details on to scammers and was later a target for fraud in which he lost £35,000.

Mr Rae’s son Chris is reported to have said: "The way charities have treated him is absolutely disgraceful … If what they have done to my father is legal, then the law needs to change."

Steve Eckersley, of the Information Commissioner's Office, said: “If charities are buying and selling personal information without any thought of the wishes of the people involved, it suggests not only a disregard for the law, but also a disconnect with the supporters whose generosity they rely on."