Worker held in 'card fraud' probe
Updated on 24 November 2007
A security breach at an online Tesco store is being investigated after a customer allegedly had her card details stolen.
A Tesco Direct call centre employee was arrested following the incident.
A spokesman for Information Commissioner Richard Thomas said: "We will be talking to Tesco about this incident to establish the full facts. The Government has legislation to ensure that people who illegally buy and sell people's personal information can be punished with a custodial sentence."
A Tesco spokesman described the matter as "regrettable". He said: "Our data protection and security procedures are amongst the most robust in the world and are not the issue here.
"This was a very regrettable but isolated incident and there is no indication whatsoever of widespread or systematic fraud. As the police investigation is ongoing, we are unable to comment on the detail. However, the individual in question no longer works for the company and we would like to reassure customers that their data is safe with us."
Tesco customer Nikki Carpenter, 44, from Guildford, Surrey, is reported to have tried using a dormant credit card to buy a television over the internet from Tesco Direct, which was refused.
She is said to have telephoned the company's call centre in Cardiff to place the order instead, giving her card details to an operator.
The Daily Mail reported that £1,500 was fraudulently spent on her card after the incident in September.
Miss Carpenter told the newspaper: "I don't believe I was the only person whose card details were stolen and the British public will not believe it either."
No-one from South Wales Police was available to comment on the matter.
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