HSBC staffer arrested for data theft

Bangalore, June 28: In a major embarrassment to the thriving BPO and IT sector in the country, a staffer of a multinational bank has been arrested on the charge of theft of data, which was used to illegally transfer money from the bank accounts of UK-based customers.

Corps of Detectives sources said Nadeem Kashmiri, who was accused of siphoning off 2.33 lakh pounds by fraudulent transactions through ATM, debit cards and telephone banking services, was nabbed in the city last night.

The fraud came to light after some account holders in Britain had complained to HSBC that money in their accounts had been debited without their knowledge. Following this, city-based HSBC Electronic Data Processing India Ltd (HDPI), where Nadeem was working until he was suspended on June three, filed a complaint with the cyber crime police station in the city on June 22.

In its complaint, the bank alleged that Nadeem had accessed personal, security and debit card information of some of its customers in the UK and passed it on to 'co-fraudsters' for conducting fraudulent transactions. The bank had ordered an internal investigation and found Nadeem to be involved in it.

On interrogation, the accused revealed that he had been lured into the fraud by some unknown people in the UK who had promised him a trip to the European nation in return for confidential data.

Though he was not aware of their identity, he knew their cellphone numbers, he told the CoD sleuths.

It was yet to be ascertained how the accused came into contact with the co-fraudsters and Nadeem's links with the underworld could not be ruled out, the officials said.

Nadeem, son of a petty poultry trader, had studied only up to 12th standard, but had allegedly joined the bank by producing fake certificates. He had first assisted his father, who migrated to the city from Kashmir three generations ago, in the poultry business.

After his father shifted to Kodagu and his brother took over the business in the city, Nadeem, who was written off by his family as wayward, started working in a cellphone shop in the city. Later, he joined a BPO firm where he worked for just one month and then moved on to HDPI on an annual salary of Rs 2.4 lakh.

UNI