Offshore call centres data security again called into question

Overseas contact centres selling peronal data 

Yet again offshore call centre data security is in the spotlight with claims an Indian based company AI Solutions is selling private information on Australian consumers for between $350 and $1,000.

The article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald and is the result of a Fairfax Media investigation which claims that the AI Solutions, along with other companies are offering personal details of Telstra, Optus and Vodafone customers that includes a person’s home address, date of birth, alternative phone numbers and “more than 1 years billing statements” and “calling data history”.

The Australian Federal Police have spoken to Optus and Vodafone and have also subsequently provided information to Indian authorities.

Telstra said in a statement that it was “aware this type of sophisticated criminal activity does take place from time to time across most industries and we do everything we can to protect our customers’ data”.

Offshore call centres data security risks

We don’t pretend for a second that data privacy issues and theft doesn’t occur in Australian contact centres (read: call centre workers jailed for theft).

It does however appear much harder to control and prosecute offences occurring outside of Australia making it one more element of risk you need to consider when sending your contact centre operations offshore.

With data becoming the new ‘gold/oil’ sadly its an area that is expected to to attract a lot more attention my criminal activity in the coming years.

Recommended reading: Why Australian Call Centres are moving offshore

Find a list of call centre outsourcers and BPOs based in Australia and overseas on our CX Directory

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