Markerstudy employee sentenced for illegally accessing personal information

A Markerstudy employee has been handed a suspended prison sentence after accessing personal information illegally.

Rizwan Manjra, from Bolton, was caught out when his employer became suspicious that an employee was unlawfully accessing its systems.

Following an investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the 44-year-old pleaded guilty to an offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990.

Andy Curry, interim ICO director of enforcement and investigations, said: “Manjra abused the trust his employer placed in him and sought to use their customers’ personal information for his own ends.”

The case

Manjra led a team dealing with accident claims for Markerstudy Insurance Services Limited (MISL), based in the Arndale Centre in Manchester city centre.

The ICO said that third party insurers, which MISL worked with, had become suspicious due to the higher than normal number of claims being processed, with 185 being flagged.

An internal investigation found Manjra had featured in 160 of the claims, despite his role not involving the access of claims.

Of these, 147 had not been referred to Manjra’s team and no legitimate reason could be found for him to access them.

MISL also discovered that Manjra had accessed over 32,000 policies during weekends following a review of its systems.

Manjra was contracted to work Monday to Friday and had not been claiming overtime.

Sentence

MISL told the ICO it setup an incident telephone number to handle calls from concerned customers, as well as a dedicated email address to handle queries arising from this matter.

An ICO investigation, which included a search of Manjra’s home, found he was sending details of personal data he had accessed by mobile phone to another person.

At a hearing at Manchester Crown Court on 30 October, 2024, Manjra pleaded guilty to an offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990, relating to the unlawful accessing of personal data held on computers.

Manjra was sentenced at Manchester Crown Court on 11 November to a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work.

Curry said: “We will take action to protect UK businesses and members of the public from threats to their personal information.

“[This] outcome should send a strong deterrent message to others who may contemplate accessing information which they don’t have a right to look at.”