The Linux Extremist

As I went out for lunch today, I passed someone in the street who looked so much like the famous director Michael Winner that I did a double take. The resemblance was extraordinary. However this guy was firstly, walking, and secondly, carrying his own shopping - not something Michael Winner needs to do.

It is kind a pity that it wasn’t him. He is, after all, the man behind “Death Wish”, the film starring Charles Bronson, who plays a vigilante that wipes out all manner of scum through the course of 5 movies.

It is long past time that Bronson got out the gun oil and pocket cannon and returned to the silver screen. There is a new target for him to take out.

Two days ago, I got a phone call from my bank saying that there were suspicious transactions on my credit card. Apparently someone had been having some fun - spending approximately £500 off of my card. Kudos to the bank, they spotted something unusual - and it was clear that I was the victim of fraud.

I would feel less bad about this if I wasn’t so very careful about identity theft. I go to big lengths to ensure that I take all the necessary precautions. However, a story from today’s paper indicated that even the best of precautions doesn’t always work:

An Indian call centre employee was arrested yesterday for allegedly creaming off £233,000 from British bank accounts.

HSBC bank said yesterday that the fraud had hit 20 account holders in the UK, all of whom had been informed and reimbursed.

	Nadeem Kashmiri escorted by ‘cyber squad’ detectives

The arrest was made after HSBC filed a complaint saying that Nadeem Kashmiri accessed “personal, security and debit card information” while working in the group’s Bangalore call centre and passed them on to associates involved in the fraud.

An HSBC spokesman said that the fraud had been noticed by security systems that had been in place since 2002, when the bank first started call centres in India. “The security record of all of our Indian offices is superb,” he said, adding that the fraud had been found and reported by Indian employees.

However, the union Amicus called for all companies to “rethink their offshoring strategies”.

He looks pretty smug, doesn’t he? Hence the idea of Charles Bronson giving him a good moment of fear before he eats a bullet.

The truth be told, there is really no such thing as total security. There never was, and there never will be. All we can do is make it bloody inconvenient for fraudsters to use our details. It’s so not much eliminating risk as managing it.

It is good that banks are obviously being proactive in trying to detect it - but it’s a never-ending chase to catch up to the fraudsters, who don’t care what a complete pain in the arse they are.

So, Mr. Winner, if you’re reading this - if you want a hit on your hands, perhaps this is an idea for a plot: Death Wish VI: Revenge of the Defrauded.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS