Data from Indian call centres being sold: report
Monday, 02 October 2006, 19:30 IST
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LONDON: Sensitive personal information of British customers from Indian call centres are being sold for a price, according to an investigation by Channel 4, The Sunday Times reported. The Channel 4 programme, as part of its 'Dispatches' series, is titled 'The Data Theft Scandal' and is to be shown on Channel 4 Thursday. The details are likely to increase demands to close down call centres of British banks and other companies in India. The report based on the programme said that data available for sale included credit card data, along with passport and driving licence numbers. The details are reportedly being "sold to the highest bidder". The report added that middlemen were offering bulk packages of tens of thousands of credit card numbers for sale. They even have access to taped telephone conversations in which British customers disclose sensitive security information to call centre staff, it said. The Sunday Times recalled that in June an HSBC employee in Bangalore was arrested after 230,000 pounds was stolen from British customers' accounts. The report quoted Stewart Room, head of the data protection unit at Rowe Cohen solicitors, as saying that the investigation highlighted serious breaches of customer confidentiality. "Customers are going to be outraged by this. By giving your data to a firm in Britain, you don't assume it's going to end up being sold in India," he said. During the investigation for Channel 4's Dispatches, one middleman offering stolen data, Sushant Chandak, reportedly offered to sell a database with the credit card details of 200,000 people as commercial "leads". At a meeting in Kolkata, he boasted of a network of agents in call centres across India. "I have a good rapport with them. We cooperate. I pay them, so they trust me," he is reported to have said. In addition to credit card numbers, Chandak was also offering passport numbers, driving licence numbers and personal banking details. In a separate meeting, the report said that Chandak offered the details of 8,000 British mobile phone users. In the programme, the report said that Chandak was seen grinning on the film as a British woman is coaxed into giving the security number on the back of her credit card. The caller claims to be from a British company that sells mobile phones. In a meeting in New Delhi, a second middleman, only known as Ghufran, reportedly offered details of customers with Halifax, Nationwide, Woolwich, Bank of Scotland and NatWest for five pound each. Ghufran claimed the information was obtained by technical support staff who visited call centres and used memory sticks to download recent sale transactions. The report added that Chandak and Ghufran had denied unlawfully selling information. Chandak said the information he provided was not genuine, while Ghufran said he was passed the data.
Source: IANS
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