 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Australian Police Probing Indian Call Centre Fraud Claim
Sydney (AFP) Aug 15, 2005 Australian police were called in Monday to investigate claims that workers in India-based call centres are selling personal information that put tens of thousands of people at risk of Internet fraud. Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said he had asked the federal police to look into allegations by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that some call centre operators in India were running a black market in identity details gleaned from their work. In an investigation for its Four Corners television programme, ABC said reporters were offered banking pin numbers, passport numbers, credit card details and other personal information on thousands of Australians for just 10 dollars (7.70 US) each. The information would enable fraudsters to assume false identities for online transactions, the ABC said in a preview of the programme to be broadcast Monday night. Ruddock says Australian companies had an obligation to protect the information of its customers and could face penalties if they failed to ensure personal details are secure. He said he was unaware of any evidence of customers' details being sold, but wanted the allegations followed up. "I've asked for the Australian Federal Police to examine whether this is an issue that they should investigate," he said. "And they are certainly very much aware of the Four Corners program and we'll see what further information it provides tonight," he said. Former World Bank cyber intelligence expert Tom Kellerman is quoted in the ABC programme as saying that cyber fraud was the most pervasive crime in the world. "Organised crime has created a business model around hacking," he said, adding that the Internet was becoming "more hostile" every day. One call centre user, Keith Poole, told the programme that an operator working for Australian company Switch Mobile asked him for his passport number, which he refused to provide. Switch Mobile spokesman Damien Kay said passport information was not needed and the company was shocked that privacy laws were being flouted by its representative in India. "The issue of personal information being sold goes way outside of our authorisation in the contracts that we have," he told ABC. Four Corners said the information it was offered appeared to have come from a call centre based in the Indian city of Gurgaon. Kiran Karnik, president of India's National Association of Software and Service Companies, told the programme that India was among the safest processing hubs around. "I can assure every Australian customer and consumer whose data is being processed or handled in India that in a comparative sense at least this is among the safest places," he said. "This industry as a whole, despite some breaches, has been fairly good." An increasing number of large companies around the world use call centres in low-wage countries such as India to receive or make phone calls on their behalf. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express Cyberwar - Internet Security News - Systems and Policy Issues
US Military Mounts International Psyops Campaign
Washington (AFP) Dec 14, 2005The US military is mounting a 300 million dollar psychological operations campaign to sway international opinion of the US war on terrorism through messages placed in foreign media, officials said Wednesday. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
