Hundreds of people were targeted by the scam with fraudsters posing as TalkTalk employees on the phone ( file image ) A major security breach has left thousands of TalkTalk customers at the mercy of fraudsters . Criminals have stolen account numbers , addresses and phone numbers from the phone and broadband firm ’ s computers . The details have been used in attempts to scam hundreds of customers so far , with one man having £2,800 stolen from his bank account . Masquerading as TalkTalk staff , the fraudsters phone their victims and try to make them disclose their bank details . It is not known how many of these customers were successfully tricked and had money stolen from them . The company , which has four million customers in all , has now sent an email to every one to warn them of the ruse . One of the techniques used by the fraudsters is to offer their victims a credit in return for their bank details . The customer then finds that their account has been emptied . The fraudulent callers are convincing because they have the customer ’ s details to hand . TalkTalk claims only a few thousand account details have gone astray . The data theft came to light when the company investigated a sudden rise in complaints about scam calls between October and December . TalkTalk insisted it had not been hacked and that the leak came instead from a third party contractor which had legitimate access to customer accounts . Customers have taken to the company ’ s internet forum to air their grievances . One , who received a call from a suspected scammer , said a more prominent warning about the hacking incident should have been given earlier and ‘ not hidden away at the bottom of a lengthy marketing email ’ . ‘ Hacking is a worldwide problem – it happens and you have to let us know immediately , not hide it away , ’ he wrote . ‘ My 85-year-old mother who is a TT customer could well have been taken in when the guy quoted all the correct info. ’ Another angry customer wrote : ‘ After months and months of being lied to by TalkTalk you are now finally admitting that you have had a security breach and that our details were accessed from your database. ’ He said several members of staff had denied there was a problem , adding : ‘ You should be ashamed of yourselves as it is your customers who have suffered and in some cases like my own , have suffered financially. ’ Another wrote on the forum : ‘ This internet provider must have the worst security and data protection for its customers in the business. ’ The company says it was not hacked but that the details were stolen by a third party . It investigated following a new wave of complaints last year . A further disgruntled customer accused TalkTalk of conducting a damage limitation exercise : ‘ It ’ s only taken them months to decide to come out and let customers know , or should I say forced to come out and let them know , as they had no option as word spread. ’ Others highlighted problems of dealing with call centres in India . In a statement , TalkTalk said : ‘ We have become aware that some limited , non-sensitive information about some customers could have been illegally accessed in violation of our security procedures . ‘ We are aware of a small , but nonetheless significant , number of customers who have been directly targeted by these criminals and we have been supporting them directly. ’ The firm said the problem had also been reported to the Information Commissioner ’ s Office . Graeme Smith had £2,800 stolen from him but claim neither his bank nor TalkTalk will reimburse him . Graeme Smith told yesterday how his bank and TalkTalk have refused to refund him £2,815 stolen from his current account . The 61-year-old HR expert was fooled by ‘ extremely slick and believable ’ fraudsters who claimed to be from a TalkTalk fraud department probing computer hacking . He was kept on the phone for hours by the team of three criminals and tricked into allowing them access to his computer to remove a bug supposedly left by a hacker . They told him he would receive a £250 credit for his trouble . When he later checked his account at a cash machine the £2,815 had gone . ‘ I feel like a fool – I ’ m not naive , but they completely took me in , ’ said Mr Smith , from Chester-le-Street , County Durham . ‘ I ’ m extremely fed up and frustrated with TalkTalk and will be leaving them in future . 'They have not provided me with any support at all and I ’ ve been forced to wait for days for anyone to contact me .
Thieves stole addresses and phone and account numbers from company . Details were used in scam which saw one man 's account robbed £2,800 . TalkTalk said they were not hacked and leak had come from third party . Outraged customers took to online forums to air their grievances .