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Companies can be fined up to £17.5m or 4pc of their global turnover if they are found not to be properly enforcing data protection rules, the ICO said.
Employees taking contact details that have been provided in confidence to a business to provide a service and using them for other means breach data protection law and can be fined or even jailed.
Emily Keaney, of the regulator said: “People have the right to order a pizza, or give their email for a receipt, or have shopping delivered, without then being asked for sex or a date a little while later.
“They have a right to know that when they hand over their personal information, that it will not then be used in ways that they would not be comfortable with.”
She added businesses had a responsibility to protect the data of their customers, including from employee misuse.
One 34-year-old woman recently told The Sun her pizza delivery driver had messaged her on multiple apps to encourage her to “thank him” for her food in person, despite her instructing him to stop.
BBC presenter Naga Munchetty previously told Radio 5 Live that a taxi driver had pursued her using information she had given the company.
In 2022, a Curry’s delivery driver was fired after reportedly sending inappropriate messages to two customers, with the company confirming that it was reinforcing its security procedures.
The problem is most prevalent in London, where a third of those who have ordered food or other goods online have been hassled, the watchdog said.
Men are twice as likely as women to believe that the behaviour is legal, according to a survey of more than 2,200 adults carried out for the regulator.
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