Presenter Scammed After Playing Down HMRC Data Loss

By Greg McNevin

January 9, 2008: The debate around the HMRC data loss incident in the UK is rolling on, with TV presenter and newspaper columnist Jeremy Clarkson becoming a high-profile victim of “data leakage” after publishing his bank details in his newspaper column.

Clarkson published his bank account number as well as details on how to find out his address in the Sun newspaper, claiming that he didn’t know what all the fuss over the HMRC incident was about, as all anyone would be able to do is deposit money into his account.

He was proven quite wrong, however, as when he received his next monthly statement he found that the information had been used to set up a direct debit from his account, with £500 being transferred to charity.

“I opened my bank statement this morning to find out that someone has set up a direct debit which automatically takes £500 from my account,” wrote Clarkson in his most recent column. “The bank cannot find out who did this because of the Data Protection Act and they cannot stop it from happening again.”

The incident highlights the danger of leaking personal information into the public domain, and brings the HMRC’s loss of 25 million plus records containing bank details, addresses and other confidential information into sharp focus.

While a charity has benefited from Clarkson’s punishment, if the data from the HMRC loss falls into the wrong hands it will be put to far more sinister use.

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