Matthew Cooper, 28, made £22,000 after accessing details of nearly 14,000 claims between July 2012 and September 2013. There was no record of Cooper having worked on any of those claims.
The prosecutor Andrew McIntosh told Manchester Crown Court that Aviva started to receive complaints from customers who had been cold called by firms regarding making compensation claims back in 2012.
Also on trial was a social contact of Cooper’s, Oliver Simpson, 32, from Manchester. The court heard how Simpson made more than £35,000 from selling personal details of Aviva customers, including names, addresses and contact numbers, to the same company between 2012 and 2013 for £35,597.
Cooper was handed a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to do 180 hours of unpaid community work after pleading guilty to a charge of fraud by abuse of position.
After admitting to failing to register himself with the Information Commissioner Simpson was fined £3,000 and told to pay £1,000 in costs.
Aviva’s Andrew Morrish said that the company “does not tolerate data theft.”
