random acts of the mindless

Indian Call Center Fraud

The call center employees are accused of cheating Citibank customers to the tune of $350,000. They would talk the caller into sharing the PIN with them and use it to transfer funds. The matter came into light when customers noticed suspicious transactions in their accounts and reported to Citibank. The bank then traced these to the Pune call center. The Pune cyber crime unit then apprehended the culprits while they were in the process of transferring another round.

This news deals a severe blow to the image of the beleaguered Indian outsourcing industry plagued with rising concerns over data security and oppositions from nationalists worldwide. So imminent is the threat that NASSCOM is taking measures to counter it. A nationwide directory of call center employees who have security clearance is being set up. This directory should be available within the next four weeks. Though setting up this database should not be a big issue, maintaining it in the times of high employee turnover would be a significant challenge.

India has thus far not been affected by big scale cyber crimes but the old fashioned 'social hacking' is very much a big threat. Telemarketing is at an all time high. One usually gets at least a call a day pitching various offerings including loans and credit card upgrades. It is very easy to beguile the unsuspecting victim into believing that he is talking to trustworthy authorized personnel. Obviously, why would you suspect someone when you call the official helpline of your bank and the call center exec asks you for your bank account details? But this incident should make us all a little paranoid about that friendly voice over the phone. Next time you get a call from or make a call to your bank/credit card company think twice before rattling off your details or you might be left with an empty account or a heavy bill.

posted by The Soulforged @ 4/14/2005