According to The Sun today, the information, which includes
addresses, passwords, phone numbers and driving licence and
passport details, was bought for about £3 per customer. Financial
institutions such as Barclays, Lloyds TSB, the Nationwide and HSBC
were affected.
The Sun’s Delhi-based contact boasted that he could sell details
of up to 200,000 accounts – some of them US-based – each month,
said the newspaper.
"Whilst the allegations are very serious, we would like to
remind readers that instances of this kind are still relatively
rare,” said Detective Chief Inspector Oliver Shaw, of the City of
London Police, which is now investigating. "There is no cause for
alarm but we would ask everyone to be vigilant."
In a statement, Barclays Bank confirmed: “We are taking these
allegations very seriously and are investigating the matter with
the key aim of safeguarding our customers’ details.”
It reminded customers that they are protected by Barclays
existing fraud guarantee: "no customer would be held liable for
fraudulent spending on their account.”
But the report can only heighten alarm over the transfer of
confidential customer information to offshore processing
centres.
European firms are severely restricted in terms of the Data
Protection Directive of 1995 as to what data can be transferred or
stored in countries without equivalent rules and enforcement
procedures. At present, India has no such regulations, and relies
on individual contracts negotiated between the main company and the
Indian outsourcing contractor to address the data protection
issues.
Speaking to the BBC, senior finance officer Dave Fleming of the
Amicus union, which has been leading a campaign against outsourcing
to India, warned, "Companies that have offshore jobs need to
reflect on their decision and the assumption that cost savings
benefiting them and their shareholders outweigh consumer
confidentiality and confidence.”
Indian industry group the National Association of Software and
Service Companies pointed out: “The problem is not unique to any
single nation – it is one that affects us all".
"We believe that any case of theft or a breach of a customer's
confidentiality must be treated extremely seriously,” it added,
according to Reuters.
