ANZ customers’ personal information found dumped in Perth rubbish skip

The ANZ documents were found in Armadale, in the city’s south-east, and included bank statements, personal details, emails, transaction histories and account numbers.

Legal experts warned the bank could be hit with a multimillion-dollar fine.

The documents were thrown out in a clean-up after the local ANZ branch closed its doors.

Scott Collins, 26, was passing by Armadale Shopping City when he spotted the confidential documents.

Some were even floating down the street.

“I found them in here, down here, up there, everywhere,” he said.

“You trust banks, and obviously they have failed our trust.

“If that was my information or my family’s information, I would be so angry.

“It’s terrifying what could happen, they’ve obviously learnt nothing form Optus and Medibank, they just don’t care about customers’ privacy.”

The bins are filled with debris from the recently shut down ANZ branch on Jull Street.

9News found private customer documents containing details like including names, email addresses, phone numbers, and even mortgage loan rates.

The bank usually has strict processing in place for discarding private information including locked bins and shredding services.

But for some reason this wasn’t done with this paperwork.

ANZ said it was “sorry this has occurred and is urgently investigating what happened”.

Lawyers say it’s a serious data breach.

Digital law expert Natasha Blycha warned thieves could create somebody’s identity with enough information.

“The other thing they then need to do is they need to tell the customers themselves – and you can imagine with paper documents themselves that’s not going to be easy,” Blycha said.

Less than three hours after 9News obtained the documents, ANZ sent a rapid response team to the Perth city studio to get them.

The Australian bank could now face civil and criminal penalties plus fines of up to $50 million.