Fergie's Tech Blog

Update: U.K. seeks Interpol's help in data-theft scandal

An AP newswire article on MSNBC reports:

British police sought help from Interpol on Friday, after a newspaper reported that one of its undercover reporters bought personal data on 1,000 British customers from an Indian call center employee.

Karan Bahree, an employee at Infinity eSearch, a web designing company in Gurgaon, a New Delhi suburb that has become a hub of outsourcing companies, did not report to work Friday but denied any wrongdoing.

Bahree "says he is innocent ... he told us that he was only trying to make a presentation to someone," said Deepak Masih, lawyer for Infinity eSearch. The company said it had nothing to do with the scandal, and that it had given Bahree, on probation for three months in the company, until Friday evening to formally explain his role.

Karan Bahree, who allegedly sold information on U.K. bank accounts to a reporter from The Sun, remained at large a day after a news story appeared about him in the London tabloid.

The Sun reported Thursday that Bahree sold a reporter operating undercover information on 1,000 bank accounts. Bahree reportedly obtained the data from contacts at call centers in Delhi, where the information was sold. The Sun in its online edition, however, gave the name of the seller as Kkaran Bahree.

Police in Delhi say that they cannot make an arrest unless there is a formal complaint from either the call-center companies in India from where the information was allegedly stolen or from the affected banks or customers in the U.K. "As soon as we get a complaint, we will arrest him," said a police official on condition of anonymity. Police are conducting their own investigations, he added.

posted by Fergie @ 6/24/2005 11:58:00 AM