14 DAY TRIAL // An individual who wishes to remain anonymous has provided the Daily Mail with files containing the personal and financial details of 2,000 Barclays customers. The data is apparently only a small part of the 27,000 customer files stolen from the financial institution and sold to brokers.
Barclays has been notified by the Daily Mail and an investigation is underway. The organization could face massive fines as a result of the data breach.
The leaked information includes details on earnings, savings, mortgages, insurance policies, health issues, and even passport and national insurance numbers. Each of the files could be worth as much as £50 ($82 / €60) on the underground market.
The whistleblower said he obtained the information from the head of a brokerage firm who had already used it for his own benefit. More precisely, between December 2012 and September 2013, he had utilized the information to trick around 1,000 people into buying some rare earth metals that in reality didn’t exist.
Customers gave Barclays the data contained in the files during meetings with a financial adviser.
“Our initial investigations suggest this is isolated to customers linked to our Barclays Financial Planning business, which we ceased in 2011,” Barclays representatives told the Daily Mail.
The former broker who exposed the shady practices has revealed that the 27,000 files are “pure gold” to brokers. That’s because the information they contain allows them to manipulate their targets.
One of the impacted customers has told the Daily Mail that someone claiming to be from Barclays contacted him about an alleged attempt to hack his account. In reality, the caller was actually a scammer “fishing for information.”
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is also investigating the incident.