08-16-2005, 06:27 AM
<!--emo&:furious--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/furious.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='furious.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->BPO's do it again: Aussie data on sale
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2005 12:27:00 AM ]
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NEW DELHI: It's Karan Bahree reloaded for India's burgeoning and scam-tainted call centre industry. Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) has alleged that employees of a Gurgaon-based call centre are illegally selling personal information of thousands of Australians for as little as 10 Australian dollars (Rs 335) per person.
The accusation comes at a time when India is working hard to convince the world that the data with its call centres are safe. In June, the British tabloid Sun claimed that Bahree, an employee of a Gurgaon call centre, divulged personal details of over 1,000 Britons for $5 per head.
ABC TV â in a preview of Four Corners programme by undercover journalists â claimed that its reporters were offered names, addresses, telephone numbers, birth details, medicare numbers, driver's licence numbers, ATM card numbers and even passport information of 1,000 Australians.
Four Corners said it was offered, through an unidentified broker, a deal on the information, but it turned down the bargain. The leaked information would enable fraudsters to assume false identities for online transactions, ABC said.
ABC was able to verify that the information belonged to real people.
Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC), through a programme aired on Monday night, has claimed that a call centre in Gurgaon is divulging personal details of Australians.
Though it did not divulge details of the purchase, ABC said a sample of identifications included personal details of Diane and Keith Poole. ABC neither named the company operating the call centre nor the journalist who had earlier conducted a similar sting operation at a call centre in Gurgaon.
Australia's attorney-general Philip Ruddock said he had asked the federal police to look into ABC's allegations. He said he was unaware of any evidence of customers' details being sold, but wanted the charges to be probed.
When contacted by TOI, Kiran Karnik, president of India's IT industry body Nasscom, sought to play down the incident.
"I haven't seen the programme but it just seems to be a follow-up of the Bahree case rather than being a fresh incident. But, let me also assure you that India is among the safest processing hubs around," he said.
The ABC programme quotes Karnik as saying: "I can assure every Australian customer whose data is being handled in India that in a comparative sense at least, this is among the safest places." <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<span style='color:blue'>EITHER THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT WAKES UP OR INDIA'S FLEDGLING BPO DREAMS WILL COME CRASHING DOWN. WESTERN NEWSPAPERS ARE HELL BENT ON PROVING THAT INDIANS ARE THIEVES. WHEN IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY AT EVERY STEP THEY SUFFER FROM THREAT OF ID THEFTS. THIS IS A WAY OF GETTING BACK FOR JOBS LOSSES BACK HOME. IT IS HIGH TIME THAT INDIAN GOVERNMENT/NASSCOM/CII/FICCI/STATE GOVERNMENTS/FINANCE MINISTRY MUST DO SOMETHING BEFORE THE BPO BUSINESS STARTS FLYING TO NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES LEAVING ARMY OF GRADUATES HOLDING THEIR GRADUATE DEGREES. STRICT PUNITIVE LAWS NEEDED TO BE ENACTED FOR ANY BPO FIRM FOUND GUILTY OF SELLING SECRETS SHOULD HAVE THEIR LICENCE CANCELLED. ALL BPO FIRMS MUST DO THOROUGH BACKGROUND CHECKS, INIATE ETHICAL WORK SHOPS. THERE SHOULD BE A FIRED UP CAMPAIGN AMONG EMPLOYEES THAT IF THEY SELL THE CONFIDENTIAL DATA, THEIR CAREER WILL BE RUINED.
WAKE UP GOVERNMENT OF INDIA...COME DOWN FROM YOUR HIGH PEDESTAL AND DO SOMEHING ABOUT IT.</span>
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2005 12:27:00 AM ]
Citibank NRI OfferÂ
NEW DELHI: It's Karan Bahree reloaded for India's burgeoning and scam-tainted call centre industry. Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) has alleged that employees of a Gurgaon-based call centre are illegally selling personal information of thousands of Australians for as little as 10 Australian dollars (Rs 335) per person.
The accusation comes at a time when India is working hard to convince the world that the data with its call centres are safe. In June, the British tabloid Sun claimed that Bahree, an employee of a Gurgaon call centre, divulged personal details of over 1,000 Britons for $5 per head.
ABC TV â in a preview of Four Corners programme by undercover journalists â claimed that its reporters were offered names, addresses, telephone numbers, birth details, medicare numbers, driver's licence numbers, ATM card numbers and even passport information of 1,000 Australians.
Four Corners said it was offered, through an unidentified broker, a deal on the information, but it turned down the bargain. The leaked information would enable fraudsters to assume false identities for online transactions, ABC said.
ABC was able to verify that the information belonged to real people.
Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC), through a programme aired on Monday night, has claimed that a call centre in Gurgaon is divulging personal details of Australians.
Though it did not divulge details of the purchase, ABC said a sample of identifications included personal details of Diane and Keith Poole. ABC neither named the company operating the call centre nor the journalist who had earlier conducted a similar sting operation at a call centre in Gurgaon.
Australia's attorney-general Philip Ruddock said he had asked the federal police to look into ABC's allegations. He said he was unaware of any evidence of customers' details being sold, but wanted the charges to be probed.
When contacted by TOI, Kiran Karnik, president of India's IT industry body Nasscom, sought to play down the incident.
"I haven't seen the programme but it just seems to be a follow-up of the Bahree case rather than being a fresh incident. But, let me also assure you that India is among the safest processing hubs around," he said.
The ABC programme quotes Karnik as saying: "I can assure every Australian customer whose data is being handled in India that in a comparative sense at least, this is among the safest places." <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<span style='color:blue'>EITHER THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT WAKES UP OR INDIA'S FLEDGLING BPO DREAMS WILL COME CRASHING DOWN. WESTERN NEWSPAPERS ARE HELL BENT ON PROVING THAT INDIANS ARE THIEVES. WHEN IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY AT EVERY STEP THEY SUFFER FROM THREAT OF ID THEFTS. THIS IS A WAY OF GETTING BACK FOR JOBS LOSSES BACK HOME. IT IS HIGH TIME THAT INDIAN GOVERNMENT/NASSCOM/CII/FICCI/STATE GOVERNMENTS/FINANCE MINISTRY MUST DO SOMETHING BEFORE THE BPO BUSINESS STARTS FLYING TO NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES LEAVING ARMY OF GRADUATES HOLDING THEIR GRADUATE DEGREES. STRICT PUNITIVE LAWS NEEDED TO BE ENACTED FOR ANY BPO FIRM FOUND GUILTY OF SELLING SECRETS SHOULD HAVE THEIR LICENCE CANCELLED. ALL BPO FIRMS MUST DO THOROUGH BACKGROUND CHECKS, INIATE ETHICAL WORK SHOPS. THERE SHOULD BE A FIRED UP CAMPAIGN AMONG EMPLOYEES THAT IF THEY SELL THE CONFIDENTIAL DATA, THEIR CAREER WILL BE RUINED.
WAKE UP GOVERNMENT OF INDIA...COME DOWN FROM YOUR HIGH PEDESTAL AND DO SOMEHING ABOUT IT.</span>