Probe into Indian call centre fraud
Fears that Indian call centres are subject to fraud were heightened today as police began an investigation into the sale of thousands of British bank account details.
City of London Police revealed that they were probing claims that IT workers were offering confidential information for as little as ?3 per account.
Leading banks and building societies including HSBC, Halifax, LLoyds TSB, NatWest, Abbey, Woolwich, Royal Bank of Scotland and Nationwide are all being targeted by identity fraudsters.
The revelation came as MPs and unions today urged ministers not to transfer Britain's population database to India. Some 250 million records of every birth, marriage and death since 1837 are set to be moved to Madras in one of the biggest offshore contract deals ever signed by the Government.
The City of London Police decided to act today after the Sun reported that an Indian fixer had sold them bank account details of more than 1,000 Britons.
Kkaran Bahree gathered account holders' passwords, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers and credit card details from IT staff across the country.
The information could help criminals access accounts, clone credit cards, buy goods and apply for new cards. The issue and expiry dates and three-digit security codes of cards were also offered for sale.
Bahree, who is based near Delhi's 40-strong call centre district, told the Sun he could pass on details of mortgages, medical bills and mobile phones.
"I sell to clients in Britain and India," he said. The fixer explained that he sells data via internet chatrooms to the highest bidder.
India's economy is booming on the back of the call centre explosion, with
Inquiry: new fears over call centre security
jobs paid ?6 an hour in Britain costing only 80p there. Several firms have moved their operations to the country, including Britain's national rail timetable phoneline and most high street companies and banks.
The City of London often undertakes investigations of financial crime. Detective Chief Inspector Oliver Shaw said that while the allegations were serious, such fraud was "relatively rare".
A spokeswoman said: "The institutions identified have been informed. We have been handed information and it is being reviewed." The case is sure to be seized on by MPs as they attacked the Government for outsourcing the Office for National Statistics database for births, marriages and deaths.
A Commons motion tabled by Labour MP John McDonnell calls on ministers to abandon the plan. Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, said: "It is outrageous that a government could hand over the records of 250 million people to a third party halfway around the globe."
