How safe are my bank details?

How safe are my bank details?

You shred every document containing your details, you guard your pin number from shoulder surfers, and even your partner doesn't know your bank log-on password. Then some dimwit at the bank misplaces a laptop, a disc or a memory stick and your details (along with your mother's maiden name and embarrassing memorable place) are for sale on eBay.

Credit-card details of a million bank customers held on a laptop have been sold for just £35 on eBay. The alarm was raised by its buyer, an IT consultant. RBS and NatWest say an investigation is underway.

Banks are supposed to keep all personal information secure under the Data Protection Act. But last year, criminals walked away with £535m from credit- and debit-card fraud - a leap of 25% from the year before. Earlier this month, even Andy Hornby, the boss of Halifax and Bank of Scotland, fell victim to ID crime. A fraudster used one of Hornby's old account statements to steal around £7,000 in one day.

So if bank bosses aren't safe, can we ever be? Bank payments association Apacs says that bank staff at call centres never see a customer's full information, and can't even bring in pens or mobile phones to record data. Encryption systems have never been compromised. The chief problem remains "card not present" fraud. This is where the details held on the card's metallic strip are copied (often at petrol stations or takeway outlets) then used overseas in countries that don't have chip and pin......continued below

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The usual advice is not to let your card out of sight or write your pin number down anywhere. And don't, as Jeremy Clarkson did, publish your account number and sort code in a newspaper column in a bid to prove that ID fraud scares are a fuss over nothing. Days later an unidentified prankster set up a £500 direct debit from the presenter's account in favour of charity Diabetes UK.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2008