The Bank of Scotland has been fined £75,000 after it faxed customers' bank details to the wrong numbers over a three-year period.
Despite several warnings about the issue, the Bank of Scotland, part of Lloyds Banking Group, continued to fax documents including mortgage applications and bank account details to the wrong recipients for three years.
One organisation received over 20 documents, while another ten went to an unsuspecting member of the public.
The organisation informed the bank of its error in 2009, but the misdirected faxes persisted for a further three years.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which issued the fine, described the breach of privacy as "unforgivable", adding that mistakes of this kind compromised sensitive data at a time when identity fraud is on the rise.
Stephen Eckersley, head of enforcement, said: "To send a person's financial records to the wrong fax number once is careless. To do so continually over a three year period, despite being aware of the problem, is unforgivable and in clear breach of the Data Protection Act.
"Today's penalty reflects the seriousness of this case."
Security "a key priority"
The Bank of Scotland apologised for the breach, saying that security was a "key priority" and that it was reviewing its processes in light of the ICO’s verdict.
"We apologise that, due to human error, a very small number of documents relating to 32 customers were unfortunately misdirected," a spokesman for Lloyds Banking Group said.
"No customer suffered any harm or detriment as a result of this error."
Keith McDonald
Which4U Editor
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