Misdirected Fax Data Breach Compensation Claims

Much of your personal data is protected from unlawful use by regulations in the UK.

Therefore, a misdirected fax data breach could result in you having valid grounds to make a compensation claim. This guide is going to provide all of the basic information you need about making a claim in such a scenario.

Claims are all based on their individual circumstances, with no two being the same. We are telling you this, as you may have questions this guide does not cover. If you do, we can still answer them. Just call one of our claim advisors on 020 3870 4868. Or use our contact form and message us, requesting a callback.

Select A Section:

A Guide To Misdirected Fax Data Breach Claims
What Information Could Be Involved?
How Could A Misdirected Fax Data Breach Happen?
Examples Of Misdirected Fax Data Breaches
Calculate Compensation For A Misdirected Fax Data Breach
Begin Your No Win No Fee Data Breach Claim Today

A Guide To Misdirected Fax Data Breach Claims

When personal data is faxed by an organisation, it has a responsibility to ensure the security of such data. When a fax is sent to the wrong recipient, this could be deemed a breach of data security laws. For example, a medical professional sends misdirected faxes that contain patient information or medical records. This would be classed as a misdirected fax data breach.

This guide will provide an overview of how and why such data breaches can happen. It will also provide information on what the personal data breach criteria are for making a claim. For additional help, call and speak to one of our claim advisors.

Laws In-Play

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is responsible for overseeing adherence to data privacy and security laws in the UK. These laws include the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA), and also the UK GDPR, which is the UK specific variant of the General Data Protection Regulation.

Non-compliance with these laws would form the basis of data breach claims. You would need to prove that these laws were not followed and your personal data was breached as a result in order to make a claim. Our team can help you with more advice about this.

Personal Data Breach Statistics

The graph below shows data security incidents regarding personal information being posted or faxed to the incorrect recipient during Q3 of 2021/22 to the ICO.

Data Posted or Faxed to Incorrect Recipient

What Information Could Be Involved?

UK law doesn’t protect all of your data. Only that which is classified as personal or special data. Examples are given below.

Personal data – name, telephone number, bank account number and banking information, debit card and credit card details, address, ID number, National Insurance number, patient number, email address, employee number, etc. All of the identifiable personal information.
Special data – other sensitive information that tells things about you. For example, trade union memberships, details of your sexuality, genome data, race or religion.

If this type of information is sent to the wrong person, then it could, in some cases, become the basis of a claim for a misdirected fax data breach.

How Could A Misdirected Fax Data Breach Happen?

There are many scenarios that could lead to a misdirected fax data breach. Human error and mistakes could cause such a problem. Some examples are given below.

A person inputs your phone number incorrectly into a fax machine, sending it to the wrong recipient.
The telephone number stored by the organisation for the recipient is wrong.
An employee sends your personal information by fax without a lawful basis to do so.

Examples Of Misdirected Fax Data Breaches

In this section, we will look at a couple of actual occurrences of a misdirected fax data breach. In the first of these data breach examples, the London NHS Trust was fined £90k for a data breach involving faxed information. The data breach happened when 59 patients’ details were sent to the wrong person.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-18145350

In the second example, a UK council was fined £100,000 for faxing details about child sex abuse cases to the wrong recipients on two occasions.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/

Both of these examples show how simple human error can cause a data breach. In both cases, the repercussions for the parties affected by the data breach could have been significant. If you believe your data has been faxed to the wrong person, give our claim advisors a call. They can help you further.

Calculate Compensation For A Misdirected Fax Data Breach

The case Vidal-Hall and others v Google Inc, was heard by the Court of Appeal in 2015. This claim resulted in the claimants being able to win damages for mental harm, despite no financial loss occurring.

Although it is not possible to give an average compensation amount for a claim for a misdirected fax data breach, we have provided the table below. The Judicial College produces guidelines the legal system uses to value claims. We referred to these guidelines when making this table.

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Mental Issue	Severity	Compensation	Notes
Psycholgical Injuries	Severe	£54,830 to £115,730	The sufferer will struggle with serious issues at work, at home, in school, etc. There is little chance of recovery.
Psycholgical Injuries	Moderately Severe	£19,070 to £54,830	This condition can have a significant impact on the sufferer’s ability to work, their personal relationships, etc.
Psycholgical Injuries	Moderate	£5,860 to £19,070	Despite initial mental challenges, the chances of the sufferer making a full recovery are high.
Psycholgical Injuries	Less Severe	£1,540 to £5,860	Here, the amount of mental harm the patient suffered and how long it lasted will determine the compensation award.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)	Severe	£59,860 to £100,670	An individual suffering from PTSD will be severely affected by it and will be unable to function normally.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)	Moderately Severe	£23,150 to £59,860	A condition like PTSD will adversely affect a sufferer’s life.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)	Moderate	£8,180 to £23,150	Any residual symptoms will not cause significant disability to the sufferer, as he will be almost entirely recovered.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)	Less Severe	£3,950 to £8,180	Recovery from PTSD would be almost complete within two years.

However, this table only provides information about non-material damages. These are paid to compensate you for the pain and trauma you faced. However, you may also face financial loss due to a data breach and these are reclaimed as material damages.

You can attempt to recoup past financial losses and losses you are predicted to face in the future. For example, if you didn’t get paid for the time you took off work, you might be able to claim for this. Similarly, if the data breach caused you to face financial difficulties because it allowed money to be taken from your account you could ask to be reimbursed.

Please call and explain your situation to our claim advisors. They will be able to tell you what types of damages might be appropriate to claim, based on your own unique circumstances.

Click Here To Learn More About Data Breach Compensation Claims

Begin Your No Win No Fee Data Breach Claim Today

It could be possible for you to get help from a No Win No Fee solicitor to process a claim on your behalf. What this means, is that your solicitor would not ask you to pay them an upfront fee to start working on your claim.

In fact, your solicitor would not expect you to pay them a fee until the claim has been won. At this stage, they would expect to receive a legally limited, modest success fee. In the case of a claim that has failed, your lawyer would not expect to be paid a fee at all.

Do you have more questions? Or perhaps you are ready to move forward with a potential compensation claim for a misdirected fax data breach? Either way, use the information below to get in touch with one of our expert claim advisors. They can help you further. They can also help you to get a claim started.

Phone: 020 3870 4868

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