The chairman of Barclays bank has become the victim of identity fraud and theft because of a lack of checks that staff at his own bank failed to carry out. A fraudster managed to pose as the Barclays boss, Marcus Agius, and tricked employees from the bank’s credit card division into sending out a new credit card. He then used the credit card and took £10,000 from the boss’s account.

The amount that was taken from the account has now been refunded in line with the bank’s policies according to Barclay’s officials. The fraudster apparently provided a number of personal details to the credit card division staff members when ordering the card, but staff failed to follow guidelines relating to follow up security questions, which could have helped to avoid the incident taking place.

An official from Barclays Bank stated: “It was down to human error, procedures were not followed fully and we have learned from it. This is an ongoing battle with professional fraudsters. All Barclays customers, from the chairman downwards, have a 100 percent fraud guarantee as long as they take responsible care of their information.”

A number of banks have been found to have lost sensitive data or breached security in relation to the personal data of consumers, but this is the first incident that has been reported relating to a senior official from the bank becoming a victim of fraud because of security failures at his own bank. Other recent incidents of security breaches and loss of data include the loss of 25 million bank account details by HM Revenue and Customs, and the loss of bank details of two hundred wealthy people, including three national lottery winners, from a DHL courier van.