19,000 UK credit card details posted on the Net … and accessible on Google

19,000 UK credit card details posted on the Net…and accessible on Google  – By Sean Poulter and Jonathan Weinberg

The credit card details of up to 19,000 British shoppers were published on the internet – where they could be found using a simple search on Google.

The details apparently originated from the website of a criminal gang in the Far East.

The list, obtained by the Mail, includes the names, home addresses and full card details of thousands of Visa, Mastercard and American Express customers.

Google’s high-powered search engine inadvertently picked up the list during a ‘crawl’ of the web – allowing it to be seen and copied.

It was still viewable a few days ago, but a spokesman for the banking industry trade body APACS said that many of the cards on the list had already been stopped and others had expired.

However, these users’ home addresses – including door numbers and postcodes  – were clearly shown, creating the risk of identity theft.

APACS also revealed that banks had merely put a warning flag on the accounts of those customers whose cards were still active, in order to monitor any unusual use.

Disturbingly, however, these customers have not been warned of the security breach.

via 19,000 UK credit card details posted on the Net … and accessible on Google | Mail Online.