July 29, 2009
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News: Gathering of CC Information Is Questionable
Britons are angry, four million of them to be exact, when they discovered their credit card information and other personal financial information was being auctioned off to the highest bidder. The accounts have been hacked into by criminals through phishing and means to dupe credit card consumers out of their personal information. After getting their hands on the information, the criminals auction them off. The British Times have learned that a British company headed by a retired senior Metropolitan police officer, Colin Holder, has collected a large amount of this information and is planning on charging consumers for access to the data base to check if their credit card and personal information has been breached. Holden says the fee will help to offset the cost of collecting the information.
Holder's site has raised serious concerns on credit card data protection. Both the Information Commissioner and London Police have been investigating the situation and have not yet been able to determine if Holder is violating any laws. The Information Commissioner's Office stated that they are unable to investigate for any wrong doing unless someone has made a complaint. However, there is some speculation that the credit card information was acquired through phishing or hacking which should warrant a criminal investigation. However, to date, there has been no sign of breaking the law.
Authorities say the credit card information is considered low risk for identity theft. But one unnamed individual's who name is in the database, said he was appalled to find his personal information being auctioned off. He also feels that banks should be more focused on eliminating financial theft and less interested in burying the cost of the in high interest rates and fees. Authorities have taken some action in notifying individuals whose email addresses have shown up in the data base as well as any company hosted emails.