Channel 4 documentary to expose Indian data theft
LONDON - A Channel 4 documentary airing on Thursday will put the problem of British consumer data theft from Indian call centres under the spotlight.
With claims that thousands of credit card and passport details are being stolen and sold on for as little as £5 each, the programme is likely to further harm the image of foreign call centres and reduce the public's confidence in the way UK companies handle their private data.
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Channel 4 will broadcast 'Dispatches' undercover documentary 'The Data Theft Scandal' on Thursday at 9pm.
It said the 12-month investigation exposes "alarming security failures in a number of commercial call centres".
Hidden camera footage shows one middleman offering the undercover reporter a database containing the credit card details of 200,000 people and another middleman offering details of customers with Halifax, Nationwide, Woolwich, Bank of Scotland and NatWest for £5 each. Both men have denied illegally selling information.
Stewart Room, head of the data protection unit at Rowe Cohen solicitors, predicted: "Customers are going to be outraged by this."
The government estimates that identity fraud costs the UK economy £1.7bn and that there are more than 100,000 victims every year.
In August, the National Consumer Council called on the business sector to warn customers when their data is compromised.
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Financial data: C4 documentary expose
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