Friend did a very stupid thing

[TigerStripe]

Also posted in legal.

A friend recently left her former place of work, where she'd been for 3 years. She has started up on her own. I guess she is now a competitor with her former employer, as she offers some of the services they do, although on a much smaller scale.

About a month after she left, she logged into her old work account from her home computer (it hadn't been deactivated), and basically stole the email addresses of her former customers. She then emailed them, saying she had left, and that she knew they would still continue to receive the same excellent treatment at her former work place. She then gave her personal contact details in case any of her 'private customers' needed to contact her.

One of the people she emailed immediately complained to her former employer, giving them a copy of the email. She received an email from a senior manager saying they were investigating and asking her to respond within 72 hours. 36 hours later she received a registered letter from their legal department.

My friend fully accepts how stupid she has been. She has written back to the manager to say this and to apologise. She has assured him that all customer data has now been deleted. She never signed a contract all the time she was there.

I have tried to give all the information I know, without being too specific with any details that could identify her. I would be very grateful if anyone with experience could let me know what can she expect to happen now? Does anyone have any idea of what the worst possible outcome would be for her?

Thank you so much in advance.

I think she needs to take legal advice. I suspect the if she took the information after she had left the company that this is theft. The fact they hadn't secured their systems is irrelevant.

Oh no. I am so sorry. I'm sure someone more helpful than me will be along shortly but I thin your friend is potentially in serious trouble. The only saving grace may be that she did not have a contract. Did she sign any sort of exit agreement? If she was given any sort of paperwork when she left I would go through it with a fine tooth comb. The only other thing potentially is to approach a lawyer - I think most places offer half hour advice for free. She may be able to gauge if she has in fact put herself in legal difficulties because of this.

The contract would be irrelevant, because even if ithere was one with a no-compete clause it is not the competition that is the issue here, but the logging in and stealing the data. She needs a lawyer pronto.

She could get charged with theft, so she really needs to see a good lawyer. What was she thinking of?

Thank you everyone. I think she is going to be consulting a lawyer pretty pronto. She received the letter this morning and when I saw here a couple of hours later she was still shaking.

She really does realise what she did was really not very clever at all.

Over and above the stealing, she's also opening the company up to a fine from the information doodah place for allowing a breach of protected data by a third party, so they may come down hard on her.

Oh dear - this was a very daft thing to do indeed. The issue of a lack of contract is a bit of a red herring as I assume she was paid into her monthly bank account and so the earnings are traceable, plus they will have issued her with a P45? The fact she stole the data and also the matter of data protection are serious. She was also trying to steal the clients and in turn, their business. I'd suggest going to Citizen's Advice to see if they can take this through mediation before running up potetntial heavy legal fees unless she can afford them. The ex-employer is justifiably very angry but may not wish to take this to the edge and ruin her financially or emotionally.

She should be alright. Unless they can prove she logged in and stole the data etc.

Its not illegal to remember addresses and talk to your professional network. I can almost guarantee you that this won't go to court as there is nothing be be gained by it.

Just ignore the letters and carry on as normal.

but she has admitted that she did that!

Thank you for all your replies.

SPB, you're right, she did admit already that she did exactly that. In the letter from their legal department, they stated that they had proof that she had logged in to her old account remotely about a month after she left.

I was speaking to someone else yesterday who asked me if I had given my friend her email address as she'd received the email from her and was very surprised & concerned how she'd got hold of it.

I am worried for her, as I think at the very least it will cause serious problems with her setting up by herself. When the company learn that her new business is half a mile away from them, I am sure they will do everything they can to stop it. In fact, I think she should delay the move into her new premises at least until she knows what their intentions are.

Oh dear.

The other place, the one that she stole the names from, will be very damaged by this and so they might have to sue the pants off her. Firstly to show their clients that they were not involved and secondly to recover some of the money that their business will have lost. People who have got emails from her will have been pissed off at the first business for letting it happen so they may loose customers.