London, June 23
The call centre business in India could head from boom to bust if the allegations regarding call centre employees doling out confidential data and indulging in fraudulent business are anything to go by.In a sensational report, a leading tabloid here today claimed that “crooked” call centre workers in India are flogging details of Britons’ bank accounts, prompting the police to launch an investigation into the scandal.
In a sting operation undertaken by ‘The Sun’, its undercover reporter was sold the top secret information on a thousand accounts and numbers of passports and credit cards for about £ 2,750 and was asked for another £ 275 later (approximately a total of Rs 2.5 lakh).
A dodgy IT worker in Delhi gathered the data from call centres. He asked details — which would give criminals priceless access to the lives of unsuspecting victims, allowing them to clone credit cards and raid accounts, it said.
The 24-year-old IT worker obtained account numbers, bank card details, secret passwords and other information.
The corrupt call centre worker boasted to the tabloid that he could sell as many as 2 lakh account details a month.
The issue has, as expected snowballed into a major controversy.
The City of London Police has launched an investigation after receiving a dossier of information from the journalist outlining a number of banks whose security may have been compromised.
Among the banks reportedly believed to be involved are NatWest and Barclays. But a spokeswoman for Barclays said she would be surprised if the company was involved as no personal customer data was held in India.
In an editorial column, the ‘Sun’ called the story “a scandal,” adding British banks “will want guarantees from the Indian Government that the full rigour of the law will be used against the crooks.”
Experts also believe that with the busting of a racket in Pune in April, involving call centre employees, who stole £ 2 lakh from the accounts of New York-based customers, call centres in India are likely to face repercussions in the banking industry.
— PTI, ANI
