The Data Theft Scandal



Courtesy of Channel4 (used without permission). In a 12-month undercover investigation, Sue Turton infiltrates criminal networks which trade British consumers' bank and other confidential information for huge profits in India, the world's new call centre capital. 

Uncovering the methods used to thieve confidential data ranging from credit card numbers to passport details, Turton exposes the alarming security failures in a number of commercial call centres which allow detailed financial data on individuals to be gathered and sold on with ease. 

She discovers shocking data protection breaches and a new phenomenon known as 'data farming' – the unauthorised 'harvesting' of personal data to be sold on or exchanged for profit. This investigation also reveals the scale of some of the call centre scams as Turton is offered hundreds of thousands of 'hot leads', full banking and financial profiles, to purchase. In the UK, she meets a former data thief and people who have fallen victim to this international trade. 

She also shows her undercover footage and findings to a UK data protection lawyer who is appalled, saying: "You couldn't scare me more. This is as bad as it gets. This is evidence of serious criminal offences." 

Afterword:- Paraphrasing a poster, live life in a dream rather that protecting yourself from identity theft. Rack up debts, enemies and arrest warrants and when things get hot, expose your identification on the internet and when your life is stolen, it’s the thief’s loss and your clean slate.

(Advanced appreciation is rendered for materials used without express permission of copyright owners. Tommy Peters – April 19th 2011)

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