Britons bank account details are found being sold in Africa

The bank account details of thousands of Britons found on recycled PCs are being sold in West Africa.

Many old PCs are sent to developing countries in Africa where they can still have a useful life having been replaced by people in the UK. Unfortunately, when computers are discarded it is common for the files on their hard disk drives to remain intact. This can mean that sensitive information such as bank account details can easily be recovered from these PCs and sold.

It is not sufficient just to delete files from hard disk drives as they can still be easily recovered. Instead, a programme that will wipe the information and replace it on the hard disk should be used. Alternatively the hard disk drive should be removed and destroyed before the computer is recycled.

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