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The newspaper claims that it downloaded banking details belonging to 32 people - including a High Court deputy judge and a managing director - for free. The files, which included enough information to make purchases on the stolen accounts, were offered as a free taster from illegal hacking sites.

The accounts included details such as account and PIN numbers, and the three-digit security code on the back of the card that is designed to prevent people from running up transactions without the bank card.

The Times claims to have found more than 100 websites willing to sell banking details, although in all likelihood this is just the tip of the iceberg. The newspaper claims

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the sites were willing to sell the accounts for as little as £1 each, in batches of up to 30,000.

The Information Commissioner's Office has promised to investigate The Times' findings, although given the departments' limited resources and inability to prosecute sites hosted abroad, it seems unlikely any concrete action will follow.

"We will be looking at the evidence you [The Times] have provided and investigating the circumstances. This looks serious and is a matter of genuine concern," a spokesman tells The Times.

"We can take action against UK-based organisations that flout the Data Protection Act. If some of these websites are not UK-based we will work with our counterparts in the relevant country."

The investigation comes after the government dismissed a Lords' report into personal internet security, which claimed that the internet was perceived as a "Wild West".

"We would refute the suggestion that the public has lost confidence in the internet and that lawlessness is rife," the government claimed in its response, despite admitting that it had no accurate figures on the level of e-crime.