A York businessman has lost hundreds of pounds through an international Internet theft.

Glen Bodilly, who had money taken from his bank account through the Internet

Accounts manager Glen Bodilly, 23, had £530 siphoned from his bank account after taking out a free subscription with an Internet service provider (ISP) in September, and sending the company his debit card details on the World Wide Web.

He had bought a new computer and chosen the service provider from several options built into it.

He entered his account details, which were sent electronically to the company's headquarters.

But when Mr Bodilly received his monthly bank statement last month, he spotted that a number of payments had been taken out by other American firms.

"I panicked when I saw the statement," said Mr Bodilly. "And I was very worried about how much more they could take out without me knowing."

He said he had now decided never again to put sensitive information on the Internet.

Mr Bodilly has since been compensated by his bank, Lloyds TSB.

Experts said today that the scam was becoming increasingly common across the world.

And a North Yorkshire fraud squad spokesman warned that international Internet fraud was very difficult to tackle by national police forces.

Alan Stevens, editor of Which?Online, said the amount taken was unusually high for an Internet scam.

"This case is seriously worrying," he said. "Something has gone horribly wrong."

Internet expert David Wall, director of the cyber-law research unit at Leeds University, said he was reluctant to pass on his own personal details on the Internet.

"This is a very important issue, because trust between the individual, the seller and the bank is a crucial concept to e-commerce."

He warned: "Don't just get on the Internet and spend, spend, spend."

A spokeswoman for Mr Bodilly's Internet service provider said all data passed to them by customers was "extremely well protected".

"His details couldn't be hacked from our system, and only accredited personnel have access to information."

She said a hacker could have used a random number generator to gain access to Mr Bodilly's account.

A spokesman for Lloyds TSB said computer users should take "common sense precautions" when passing bank or credit card details on the Internet.

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