List of highly-paid employees is in much demand

Hyderabad: Some third party organizations are purchasing personal data of employees, especially those having salary of more than Rs 10 lakh per month, to sell to prominent non-banking organisations. A. Suresh Kumar, a businessman from Malkajgiri, said he was offered a Rs 30 lakh loan by a third-party website.

“As per the terms and conditions of the website, it forwards the applicant’s details to nationalised banks which then approach the applicant to begin the loan process. But I was surprised when private financiers and non-banking institutions also approached me with a series of phone calls,” he said.

Some agencies have been procuring applicants’ personal data from crooked staff working with third-party loan offering companies. A source from a third-party agency said the price of stolen data depended on the number of samples and salary range.

“This sort of collection is called data-bank. Information of at least 20 persons, earning more than Rs 10 lakh a month will be sold for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 based on demand. Mostly, non-banking organisations and electronic showrooms purchase this data to boost their business,” he said.

Non-banking institutions, which offer personal, vehicle and home loans gather information on employees earning at least Rs 30,000 per month.

“We then provide complete details of an employee including his name, father’s name, surname, address, phone numbers, address proof and ID proof document details, PAN number, Aadhaar number and other details — whatever they provide us at the time of registration,” the source said. Personal data along with mobile numbers are being put in public domain by apps like Truecaller and services like Justdial.