Indian Call Center Employees Hack US Bank Accounts

The Ascended One writes "Call center employees working for an Indian software company, MSource, supposedly used confidential client information to transfer client funds to themselves. The alleged perpetrators used the personal information of four NY-based clients to transfer ~$350,000 (Rs. 1.5 crores) in their names, a large sum in Indian currency. They were caught after the victims alerted the bank officials in the US, who then traced the crime to the Indian city of Pune. While the name of the bank has not been revealed, the article indicates that the bank in question is Citibank."

Comments

Attention Citibank Customer

[DarkHelmet]

Attention Citibank Customer!

We are sorry to inform you, but your account information has fallen into the hands of employees at an Indian Call center we do work with. Unfortunately, your account may be compromised.

To protect your account, please log into our panel using the link below to change your username and password:

http://www.citibank.com/

Thank you for choosing Citi.

Re:Attention Citibank Customer

[roman_mir]

Attention Citibank Customer!

We are sorry to inform you, but your account information has fallen into the hands of employees at an Indian Call center we do work with. Unfortunately, your account may be compromised.

To get further information about protecting your account, please contact our Indian Call Center.

http://www.citibank.com/

Thank you for choosing Citi.

Cover sheets

[avidday]

If the TPS reports had of had the correct coversheet on them, none of this would have happened!

crores

[Anonymous Coward]

What is it with Indians counting numbers? Even when typing large amounts in numericals, they seem to put commas in unusual places. Could someone explain the system, please?

Re:Easier to track

[mister_jpeg]

yeah! and another good thing about outsourcing is that the dollar goes so much further in countries like India, so the criminals need to steal less! Why, I bet if Citibank hadn't outsourced that call center and the theft had occured in New York or somewhere, it woulda been a couple million!

</idiot mode>

So..

[ASkGNet]

I really should update my account details in Citibank, as per the email that I got awhile ago.

They said my monies will be stoeled if I don't

Re:Indian, Native American, Ukrainian, Nigerian

[JaredOfEuropa]

It doesn't matter if the employees are yellow, red, green or black.

Wait a minute.... green employees? Where the heck does your company outsource to?!

Re:Indian, Native American, Ukrainian, Nigerian

[Alioth]

I'm one of the biggest foreigners around...

May I suggest you lay off the Big Macs and Whoppers for a while then?

Re:Begin the racist rants

[kubrick]

'Ivan Samuel Thomas' doesn't sound like an Indian name... but that could just be my racist background showing (?).

Advertising Irony

[jujuchef]

Anyone else see the irony with the citibank advertisement smacked right in the middle of the story? Even if the story doesn't identify them, bad publicity is still publicity.

Re:Easier to track

[weave]

True, since the crime had to have happened in India, it narrows the list of possible suspects down to only a billion people.

Re:"What kind of name is Pune?"

[blakespot]

Yes, it was a joke (that you clearly didn't get)... And the name is actually spelled "Poon" I believe. And hey, give me a break, my car just hit a water buffalo.

blakespot

Re:not hacking

[stiggle]

Its not called stealing - its providing an insecure off-site backup :-)

The real Horror in all of this. - When will it end

[Ada_Rules]

I think most people here are really missing the point of this story. Up until now, the only jobs that were being outsourced to India were call centers, software engineers and a few other white collar jobs.

With this event, something much more serious has taken place. We have begun to outsource criminal activity. Oh the horror. What about the children of the criminals in the US? Where will they get their crack money?

This is very serious. We need to act now to prevent tossing away the lives of those in the US who have worked sometimes for their entire lives committing crime. While it might be possible for an engineer or call center employee to be retrained for a new job, we have lots of experience that says we are not very good at retraining out crimininals. After all, there are only so many CEO positions available in the US.

Re:Or interfering with the democratic process

[Gridpoet]

Ummm...i think when he says piracy, in this instance he actually means the hook-handed-parrot-carring-wooden-leg-having-one-e yed ARRRRGGHHH kind...

hoist the Jolly Rodger!

Just some useful info for call center testing

[syntap]

I have an Indian guy in my office, and I got him to make a list of several very offensive curses in his native language. If I suspect I'm on the line with someone in India that is faking a name and accent, I play along for a bit and then say something on the list (I have no idea what they mean). A lot of times the American accent breaks down and I hear some yelling but it appears to be an effective litmus test. An American on the line just says "huh? cell phone going out?"

A New Low

[Das Auge]

Now they're outsourcing our crimes!

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

India?

[Anonymous Coward]

Having recently returned from India, one of the biggest things I found was that almost everyone was trying to find a way to part you with your money...Of course, there were countless people who are willing to tell you anything, including flat-out lies, to take your money.

You sure that was India, and not Washington DC?

Re:Well that explains a lot

[YetAnotherAnonymousC]

They got it from ***** in ******. Duh!

What's his name?

[BAlkyMAn]

Did anyone notice the mastermind's name was Ivan Samuel Thomas? I don't know any Indian guys named Ivan, Samuel, or Thomas. What's up with that? Are we exporting our criminals too?