The report, by the UK Dispatches television program, reveals that the details are being lifted from call centers in India and then sold in bulk by middlemen. The investigation reveals that sensitive information is being gathered from call centers operated on behalf of several banks and mobile phone operators.
The banks involved in the investigation include Bank of Scotland, Halifax, Nationwide, Woolwich, and NatWest; while the mobile operators include Vodafone, T-Mobile, 3G, and O2.
The report shows one middleman who claims that details are garnered by technical support staff that download details of recent transactions on to memory sticks.
Financial news website This is Money quoted a statement from Apacs, the UK trade association for payments, which said it was concerned that customer details seem to have been obtained so easily.
Apacs also urged customers to check their statements regularly for signs that they may have been defrauded.
