In this New York Times article, something we have written about in Customer Interaction Solutions has finally happened. Customer records were acquired by some call center workers and this information was used to withdraw money from the accounts of unsuspecting customers. In this case the company in question is CitiBank who outsourced their work to India‘s Mphasis BPO.

Excerpts from the article:

Reacting to the news, a cyber law expert said the monitoring system in Indian companies needed to improve.

The challenge companies have when outsourcing is how to assure the laws in other countries are on par with the US. Most countries don’t have the consumer protection laws we have in this country and if they do have them, enforcement is substandard. Let’s face it, consumer privacy is tough enough to enforce in the US. Adding an international element makes it infinitely more difficult to monitor and prosecute.