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Millions race to change bank
accounts as families panic after benefits blunder
UK
Daily Mail
Wednesday November 21, 2007
Banks are facing overload from millions of customers
worried about identity theft after the biggest loss of personal
data in history.
Staff are expecting to be deluged by panicking account holders
after a junior civil servant lost two discs containing information
on 25 million people.
During Prime Minster's Questions this lunchtime, Prime Minister
Gordon Brown told the Commons that he "profoundly regretted"
and apologised for the loss of Child benefit data by HM Customs
and Revenue.
The astonishing blunder by HM Revenue and Customs,
which affects every family in the country claiming child benefit,
has triggered a huge fraud alert.
(Article continues below)
This morning on GMTV the Chancellor Alistair Darling "apologised
unreservedly" for what he described as a "very very
bad situation indeed."
Accounts thought to be particularly at risk are those that use
children's names or dates of births as passwords. It is feared
that the disaster will cost the banking system tens of millions
of pounds.
High street banks such as Barclays and Halifax have already briefed
staff on how to detect attempts to steal money from accounts.
A spokesman for Barclays said: "We've briefed staff to be
extra vigilant on identification and verification with new account
openings and changes of accounts. The extra checks are down to
staff judgment, but we're asking customers to be patient."
Full
article here.
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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