Criminals are using the security details to hack into the computer systems of British firms.
According to a report in the Evening Standard there are at least two recent cases where staff working at Indian call centres with British clients have been involved in what is thought to be the tip of the iceberg.
A number of high-profile British firms have moved some or all of their call centre operations to India where staff are paid a fraction of what UK workers are paid. They include Abbey, BT, BA, ebookers, HSBC and Tesco and GE Capital.
In one of the cases reported this week highly sensitive financial information and credit card details from a British financial institution were acquired by Indian gangs.
A spokesman for the National Outsourcing Association in the UK said: "This shows that there are some things that you really should not send overseas. For organised criminals, this is a godsend. If you are using people in a low-wage area, organised crime can afford to pay a lifetime's wages for data."
The exodus of call centre jobs to India has come despite research showing that British call centres deliver better service than their Indian counterparts.
Call centre consultancy showed that more than 90% of calls were resolved first time by UK call centres. UK call centre agents also answered 25% more calls than Indian agents and resolve 17% more of the calls the first time.
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