Better safeguards are needed to protect the personal data of British consumers held by call centres in India, warned a group of MEPs.
The Amicus union group of Labour MEPs has challenged the European Commission to prevent unauthorised access to details when they are processed abroad in offshore centres, said a report.
The MEPs tabled a motion at the Employment and Social Affairs Committee calling for an investigation into the issue.
Scottish MEP Bill Miller said: “We believe attempts have been made to get credit card details and the like for quite a while. It is important we address this now while there is just a trickle of cases rather than a flood.”
He said the possible security risks were a worrying consequence to the trend of outsourcing operations abroad.
Miller said the problem was not limited to British consumers, but affected consumers in other European countries.
A recent report from Ernst & Young warned that “given the volume of offshoring that is going on and the risks attached, there will be a major regulatory failing within five years”.
Amicus has called for a toughening up on the regulations surrounding offshored financial services operations, describing the situation as “an accident waiting to happen”, said the report.
The Data Protection Act currently requires only that companies maintain their server within the EU boundaries even though data is being processed thousands of miles away.
