HSBC call-centre man held over data theft

HSBC call-centre man held over data theft

A worker at HSBC's Bangalore call centre has been arrested after he was allegedly caught handing personal details to fraudsters who went on to steal £220,000 from 16 of the bank's UK customers.

Nadeem Kashmiri, who has worked for HSBC for less than six months, was arrested and charged today with allegedly hacking into files and passing on data.

HSBC said the worker had passed on enough personal details to allow fraudsters - who are also believed to operate in India - to transfer the money out of the UK accounts and into a number of Indian banks. He was caught after accessing bank account details he had no reason to open.

An HSBC spokesman said: "All the affected customers have been contacted and fully reimbursed for the money taken, plus any charges they have incurred as a result of the theft."

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He went on to downplay the fact that the worker had been based in India. "We have operated call centres in India for four and a half years and the levels of fraud committed by workers there has historically been much lower than we have experienced in the UK. We have very robust systems in place across the world, which did their job in this case."

News of the theft is bound to reignite debate about UK firms relocating call-centre work to India and other countries. Two weeks ago the utility company Powergen said it was closing its Indian call centre, saying the operation had had a negative effect on customer service.

Over the last five years a large number of high-profile organisations have opted to move call centres and other parts of their operation abroad. They are rewarded with savings of between 37% and 55% in operating costs, but customers have complained about poor service.

News of the arrest was immediately seized upon by the union Amicus, which has led the fight against relocating abroad.

The union's national officer, David Fleming, said: "If a world player like HSBC is vulnerable to fraud within their overseas call centres, then every organisation outsourcing work is vulnerable too.

"HSBC have always maintained that because their overseas operations are not contracted out to a third party the bank would remain in control and customers' personal details would be safe. This is not the case. This news comes immediately after Powergen's wise decision to bring work back to the UK because of customer dissatisfaction. We are urging other companies to rethink their offshoring strategies urgently."

Call-centre workers have proved so unpopular with many UK consumers that several banks now heavily advertise that they are committed to keeping all call handling in the UK. They see it as a way of attracting new customers.

Meanwhile, offshoring consultants are reporting other firms are considering ending their Indian call-centre operations because of the negative effect on brands.

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