Out-Law / Your Daily Need-To-Know

Indian call centres in security scare, as Sun reporter buys bank data

23 Jun 2005, 2:39 pm

London police have launched an investigation after an undercover reporter for The Sun newspaper managed to purchase the bank details of 1,000 British customers from a computer expert claiming to have corrupt call centre contacts in India.

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.