Contents

1. Summary
   1. Facts
   2. Holding
2. Comment
3. Further resources
4. The Decision

Summary

Eric Kariuki complained Lemon Cash demanded payment for an unknown loan via 200 calls in 30 minutes. The ODPC dismissed the complaint, finding the mobile numbers used were not linked to the Respondent. However, the ODPC recommended prosecuting Lemon Cash’s Directors for obstructing investigations by denying access to their database.

Facts

Eric Kariuki (the Complainant) filed his complaint on 22nd February 2024. The core of the complaint related to the alleged contact made by Ceres Tech Limited t/a Lemon Cash (the Respondent), demanding payment of a loan that he had not taken out.

The Complainant asserted that on 21st November 2023, he received over 200 calls in less than half an hour from mobile phone numbers 079402, 074059, and 0710****04, all demanding payment for a loan facility he was not a party to. He provided screenshots of his call logs as proof. The Complainant further stated that these calls were frustrating and stressful, significantly affecting his work to the extent that he was forced to switch off his phone, which was an important tool in his trade. The Complainant sought compensation from the Respondent. The Respondent filed its response on 7th March 2024.

The Respondent’s primary points were that they had conducted an internal review and discovered that the Complainant’s information was not present in their data log. Consequently, they were unable to confirm the allegations originated from their Company. The Respondent welcomed any investigations into its data log by the ODPC to ascertain the veracity of the complaint.

The Respondent later stated during investigations that the Complainant was merely a third party to a client identified as E****** M******, whose mobile number was 0727****44. The Respondent claimed that they do not contact third parties or emergency contacts but only contact their clients when they default on paying loans. They also stated that they do not collect phone book contacts of their customers, as this is prohibited by Google Playstore policies.

The Respondent confirmed that its Lemoncash mobile application had been pulled down from Google Playstore and was no longer available for download.

The ODPC conducted a site visit at the Respondent’s premises on 20th May 2024 to carry out further investigations.

The key findings were:

• During the site visit, the Respondent stated that the mobile phone numbers used to contact the Complainant did not belong to them. The investigation officers conducted a search on the Respondent's front-end side of its database.
• The search of the Respondent’s front-end database revealed no evidence indicating that the Complainant's personal data was on their database, or that the subject mobile numbers that contacted him belonged to the Respondent. In the absence of any evidence linking the mobile phone numbers that contacted the Complainant to the Respondent, the Office concluded that the calls did not belong to the Respondent.
• The Office sought to examine the Respondent’s database to verify the Complainant’s mobile number and the mobile phone numbers that contacted him were present in their database. However, the Respondent denied the Investigation Officers access to the backend of their database, which was deemed crucial in ascertaining whether the Complainant's personal data was present. This action amounted to obstruction of the Data Commissioner contrary to Section 61 of the Act. The Respondent’s denial of access to the backend of their database obstructed the Data Commissioner in the exercise of her powers.