ID fraud: The growing threat

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- National ID Fraud Prevention Week

We have never been more at risk of becoming victims of identity fraud – and often only have ourselves to blame, according to research released to mark National Identity Fraud Prevention Week.

The members of more than 21million British households are throwing away their identities along with their rubbish and fuelling a crime boom that the Government estimates costs the country £1.7billion a year.

The survey's researchers did as the criminals do and raided bins and recycling boxes for useful documents, such as bank and credit card statements and direct mail offers.

They found:

• 97 per cent of households regularly throw out documents giving details such as full name, address, postcode and gender that could allow a crook to steal an identity
• 30 per cent have thrown away an entire credit or debit card number and 73 per cent have trashed an item giving their name exactly as it appears on a card – these could allow thieves to use their accounts on the internet or by mail or telephone order
• 46 per cent have dumped a document including their bank account number and sort code
• 48 per cent had thrown away everything a fraudster would need to take over their ID

The results show an annual increase of 20 per cent in carelessness with sensitive documents, despite campaigns to raise awareness of the problem.

National Identity Fraud Protection Week is part of this exercise and is run by a group of public and private sector partners including police forces, Crimestoppers, The Identity and Passport Service, CIFAS – the UK’s fraud prevention service, and credit reference agencies such as Experian. The research was commissioned by Fellowes, who manufacture shredders.

How the criminals operate

One of the worldÂ’s leading authorities on identity fraud, Professor Martin Gill, has also completed a study of offenders and victims that highlights the ways in which the crime is committed. These include:

• Stealing personal information from dustbins
• Stealing sensitive data as part of other crimes such as burglaries and pick-pocketing
• Stealing handbags and wallets
• Using birth certificates to impersonate dead people – a crime known as jackal fraud, after the assassin in The Day Of The Jackal
• Redirecting post to get hold of peopleÂ’s personal details
• Stealing post from peopleÂ’s doorsteps

Protect yourself

A dedicated website has been set up to educate people about ID theft and fraud. The Government also recommends regularly checking your credit report – the personal history of your loans, credit cards, mortgages and other credit accounts. It includes details of applications for credit made in your name, so you will be able to see if anybody has been impersonating you.

The easy way to see your credit report is to sign up for a free trial of CreditExpert, the online credit monitoring and identity protection service from Experian.

- Try a free trial of the CreditExpert Monitoring Service from Experian, which alerts you to changes to your credit report