Channel 4 : Call centre ID theft exposed

Longer detailed report




Channel 4 Call centre ID theft exposed

Hundreds of thousands of British consumers' financial details are on sale in India at £8 a time, a television documentary has found.

The practice - which is illegal in both India and the UK - was unearthed during a 12-month probe by the Dispatches programme.
Security failures at Indian call centres are allowing detailed financial data on individuals to be gathered and sold with ease to criminal networks for huge profits, the documentary found.

The confidential includes bank account details, credit card numbers and passport data.
The programme also looks at the new phenomenon known as ‘data farming' - the unauthorised "harvesting" of personal data to be sold on or exchanged for profit.
The investigation also reveals the scale of some of the call centre scams as one reporter is offered hundreds of thousands of "hot leads", full banking and financial profiles, to purchase.

In June, a worker at a Bangalore call centre of HSBC Holdings was arrested after funds were taken from British bank customers. According to reports, £230,000 was taken in the fraud, which was caught by internal security.

And in June last year, a tabloid said one of its reporters had bought bank details of 1,000 UK customers for £3 each from an Indian call centre worker.

Citibank, ABN Amro, Standard Chartered and HSBC are among financial giants that employ Indian workers to serve global customers.

Industry officials say workers are frisked and banned from bringing in mobile phones, pens and paper, cameras and even music players to prevent them from sneaking out valuable information.

They also undergo background checks, sign non-disclosure agreements and attend courses on customer secrecy.