Bank account details found in road
January 20, 2008
With 2008 well underway it seems that the blunders that are putting UK consumers at increased risk of identity theft are continuing to occur. Recently the private banking details of some two hundred consumers were found at a roadside near junction 11 of the M4 motorway after they fell from the van of a courier. Amongst the customers whose details were found at the roadside were three national lottery winners. One lottery winner stated that she felt sick after being told of the blunder – she won over £8 million on the lottery last year.
The details were part of a box of files that were found at the roadside, all of which related to investments amounting to millions of pounds. Cheques and other sensitive data was also amongst the documentation found. A vehicle recovery driver found the documents at the roadside. The paperwork all belonged to financial giant Prudential. It was on its way to a secure storage facility in Essex when it appears to have fallen from the van of the courier and gone unnoticed.
Talking about the courier one official stated: ‘He appears not to have noticed that the door of his van was open and the box appears to have fallen out. The Pru is clearly not happy at all. It has suspended all use of DHL until the investigation is concluded.’
The data has now all been handed back in to officials at the Prudential and the customers that were affected by the loss of data have been notified.
An official from the Prudential stated: ‘Protection of our customers’ data is of paramount importance to us and we are contacting them immediately. The key thing is that none of those customers will suffer any financial loss as a result of this. It was a delivery being made on our behalf to a secure storage facility in Essex and basically the DHL van and the box parted company at some stage during that journey.’
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