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By James Titcomb

 

Financial details and scans of bank statements and passports were some of the data found on disks available on auction sites such as eBay, according to a report released today.

 

The Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, warned that people are "in danger of becoming a soft touch for online fraudsters."

 

Of the 200 hard drives bought in an Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) investigation, 11 per cent contained personal information, and around half had some data still on them.

 

In total 34,000 files with personal information were found on the disks. 

Two drives had enough details to steal the former owner's identity, and a further four contained financial or medical information. Mr Graham also warned that data on passed-on mobile phones and USB sticks could put people at risk. Nearly half of the 236,500 cases of fraud last year involved identity theft.

 

Thousands of used hard drives are available on eBay and other websites. The ICO found that two-thirds of people pass on or sell their old phones, computers and laptops, and that one in ten don't delete information from the device beforehand.

 

Although sellers had often tried to wipe the data, programs freely available on the internet were able to uncover the data.

 

"We live in a world where personal and company information is a highly valuable commodity. It is important that people do everything they can to stop their details from falling into the wrong hands," Mr Graham said.

 

“Many people will presume that pressing the delete button on a computer file means that it is gone forever. However this information can easily be recovered."