Ladbrokes account holder information for sale shocker – Bingo Hideout

The Bingo Hideout team were shocked to read news regarding a Ladbrokes security breach which saw account holder information reportedly for sale. The story published in the Mail over the weekend stated that the Mail on Sunday were approached by an ex IT security consultant.   The man supplied the personal information of 10,000 Ladbrokes account holders with the promise that 4.5 million further records could be supplied for the right price. The man only known as ‘Daniel’ and using an email address including the words ‘theinsidescoopuk’, is believed to live in Australia and reportedly works for DSS Enterprises based in Melbourne Australia.

Melbourne based IT company involved?

DSS Enterprises had done work for the parent company of Ladbrokes Bingo between 2007 and 2008 and more worryingly have also worked for the UK Ministry of Defence.  The company is owned by a Mr Dinitha Subasinghe who is believed to be a sole trader of DSS Enterprises a  website design and IT business.  Mr Subasinghe has denied any involvement in the Ladbrokes data theft, and is reported in the Mail on Sunday as saying ‘Unless my name, my signature, my fingerprint is on anything, it has nothing to do with me’.

The Mail on Sunday contacted Ladbrokes and the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) regarding the possible security breach.  Ladbrokes immediately informed the police and have pledged to contact their customers to allay any fears regarding criminal activity on their accounts.  The personal data that was passed to the Mail on Sunday is believed to include Ladbrokes account numbers , home addresses, phone numbers,  email addresses, date of birth information and transaction history.  Ladbrokes however have stated that all financial information including credit and debit card data are completely safe as are account passwords.
The following statement regarding this issue has been posted on the Ladbrokes PLC website:

‘24/01/2010 Media statement regarding Ladbrokes security
An individual has passed certain details from a Ladbrokes customer database to the Mail on Sunday. This is a criminal act and we are working with the police, the Information Commissioner’s Office, and the newspaper to identify and apprehend the culprit.  We are in the process of contacting the limited number of customers affected by this incident to apologise and to reassure them that the data in question does not include passwords to access customer accounts or any customer banking details.’

For any Ladbrokes customers who are concerned about their account security, they can find further information at www.ladbrokes.com or can contact the Ladbrokes customer service team via email at Care@ladbrokes.com or call 0800 731 6191 where a member of Ladbrokes will be happy to assist.

www.ladbrokes.com