T-Mobile customer information sold illegally by staff

In a breach of data protection laws referred to as 'the biggest of its kind', staff at T-Mobile have been illegally selling customers' personal information to third party brokers, it emerged today.

Initial reports were unable to confirm which of the UK mobile providers was involved; but after mobile companies 02, Vodafone, Orange, 3 and Virgin all denied involvement, T-Mobile admitted that it was the company in question.

Information about the illegal activity first began to emerge when T-Mobile alerted the Information Commissoner's Office - the body responsible for controlling and enforcing the availability of and use of personal data. Information commissioner Christopher Graham confirmed that data had been sold by T-Mobile staff to brokers, who sold that information on to other phone companies so that they could attempt to poach customers at the time the customers' contracts were due to expire.

Mr Graham went on to add that the case was a prime example of the requirement for stronger laws to prevent the misuse of information in this way. Confirming his office was preparing a prosecution in this case, he commented: "We are considering the evidence with a view to prosecuting those responsible and I am keen to go much further and close down the entire unlawful industry in personal data." He is calling for stronger penalties, including prison sentences, for those involved in selling private data to third parties. The current penalty for breach of the data protection act is £5,000.

A spokesman for T-Mobile said that the information had been sold without its knowledge.

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