The Hindu Business Line : Ex-employees of MsourcE held for `bank funds transfer'

, THE cyber crime cell of the Pune police has arrested four former employees of a BPO centre in the city, for duping four account holders based in New York. These people were earlier with MsourcE, the BPO arm of MphasiS-BFL Ltd.

Including the four, the number of arrests have gone up to 12, for illegally transferring close to $3,00,000 (or Rs 1.32 crore) from the accounts of customers of a New York bank to a bank in Pune, according to the Police.

Mr Sanjay Jadhav, Pune's Crime Cell Chief, said the New York bank's customer care service contract was with MsourcE, a centre of which is located in the city.

MphasiS-BFL declined answers to queries on the identity of its client and whether the company itself detected the crime. It only issued a statement that said, "... We are in close contact and working with the police... . MphasiS regrets this occurrence, which seems to involve some ex-employees."

The statement added, "... We are quite pleased that detection systems worked and that there was swift, coordinated information exchange between the affected parties."Mr Jadhav said the arrested had been remanded to police custody till April 11.

`Unfortunate'

The BPO industry termed as "unfortunate" the alleged account theft by ex-employees of MphasiS BFL's BPO operations, but said that prompt action by authorities had demonstrated India's ability to clamp down on such irregularities.

While BPO players do not see the episode adversely impacting the huge offshore work coming to India, they feel that a strong legislation on data protection and privacy would provide a further comfort factor to overseas clients.

The software association Nasscom lauded the Pune Police Cyber Crime Investigation Department for successfully unearthing and investigating the fraud.

"Till now, while India has received positive press for its commitment to Common Law traditions, there have been nagging concerns about the swiftness and effectiveness of the investigation and enforcement apparatus," Mr Kiran Karnik, President, Nasscom, said.

He added, "Distressing as this incident has been, it is a sad but realistic fact that no system can be 100 per cent fool-proof. In this context, the pro-active efficiency and the prompt success of the police reinforced the reputation of India as a country with a strong legal and enforcement framework," Mr Kiran Karnik, President, Nasscom said.

Forrester warning

The alleged account theft by the employees of an Indian BPO unit coupled with high call-centre attrition rates would severely dampen BPO growth rate in the next 18 months, research firm Forrester has warned.

It has estimated that the growth of the Indian call centre industry could drop by as much as 30 per cent following the incident.

"It will also likely lead to calls for more regulation of BPO activities in the US and Europe, as well as in India," the report said.

It added that India would have to tighten its data protection and privacy laws, to bolster its offshore credibility.

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