Barclays pays £500k for data theft

Barclays Bank is being forced to cough up over £500,000 in compensation after the discovery of a data theft dating back to 2008 – affecting the personal details of about 2,000 customers – with each person pocketing £250.
Barclays has written to customers telling them that a copy of information they had provided to its financial planning division had been found by police when they raided a flat on the South Coast in a unrelated investigation.
The letter said that the data “includes details taken during the [Barclays Financial Planning adviser] meeting… and the subsequent letter Barclays sent you containing our investment recommendations”. It said it was still investigating how the theft happened, although conceded that this could “take some time”.
Customers who have been affected have been given the chance to be put on to a credit checking scheme, to check whether their rating has been damaged as a result of criminals using their leaked personal data.
A Barclays spokeswoman told the Scottish Herald: “This is not a new theft of data from Barclays. Every indication is that the data here was part of the same theft of data that was reported last year, relating to data stolen in 2008.
“The details on the recently discovered USB data stick belong to a group of customers linked to the Barclays Financial Planning business, which ceased operating in 2011. The data concerned was from 2008 or earlier.”