Identity Fraud
Wednesday 10 October 2007
25% of people in the UK have either been the victims of identity fraud or know somebody that has. National Identity Fraud Prevention Week is designed to help more people become aware of the dangers.
What is identity fraud?
Identity fraud is when a person’s personal information, like their bank account or address details, are used by someone else without them knowing, to buy goods, get credit or get other services.
Criminals steal identities in many different ways. They may simply steal a wallet or a bag or they could go as far as going through someone’s rubbish. On line identity theft is also becoming more and more common.
One type of fraud becoming more and more common is current address fraud. This is when the fraudster uses the address of the person and pretends they are that person. Often these types of fraudsters may even live with the victim!
According to research carried out by Experian, students and graduates are among those most at risk.
How does fraud happen?
Through the internet:
- Sending personal info - there are many ways that people send their personal information through the internet. This can be buying something on line or posting information about themselves on a social networking site such as Myspace or Bebo. Fraudsters can often combine the bits of information you publish on various sites to get credit in your name.
- ‘Phishing’ - this is when someone’s identity is stolen via email. Usually an email arrives claiming they are from an official source like a bank or auction site such as Ebay. The fraudsters go a long way to make the email look really official, using real logos and images taken from the real website. The email usually asks for personal information urgently and aks you to click a link which takes you to a fake site, that again looks the same as the other. It is important to know that organizations such as banks etc. will never ask for personal information via email – be careful! If in doubt just delete the message.
Bin raiding
- Fraudsters have been know to go through people’s bins to look for bank and credit card statements as well as letters that might contain personal information. Even old bills or envelopes can help a fraudster gather information they need.
- A bin raiding survey commissioned by Fellowes for National Identity Fraud Prevention Week showed that 97% of household waste contained at least one or more items which could helpfraudsters in stealing an identity! Almost 50% of households actually threw away everything a fraudster would need to steal a person’s identify.
Other ways that fraud happens
- Mail Forwarding – when you move house and ask the Post Office to forward your mail
- Getting your wallet or purse stolen
- Phone calls – calls from banks asking to update your personal details
- Phone calls – calls from people pretending to be doing market research.
- Card skimming – this can happen is a shop and is when someone copies your info and sells it on
National Identity Fraud Prevention Week
National Identity Fraud Prevention Week (NIFPW), the UK’s largest awareness drive against ID Fraud and aims to educate about the dangers of identity fraud, and the preventative steps that could – and should – be taken. To find out more, visit the website. Also, check out the spoof advert above.
