Summary
- Some of us are at greater risk than others
- It happens all too easily
- There are some simple ways to avoid ID fraud – we explain how
- Identity stolen? Here’s what to do
you can find it impossible to get a mortgage, loan or credit card because your credit report has been ruined by a stranger
ID fraud is one of Britain’s fastest-growing crimes. It begins as theft, when a criminal gets hold of enough personal and financial details to impersonate you. Theft turns to fraud when someone uses those details to get money, goods or services in your name, often by taking out loans and credit cards and running up debts that they have no intention of repaying.
ID fraud costs the country £1.7 billion a year and has directly affected at least six million Britons, according to government figures. Average losses range from almost £2,000 on a credit card to more than £7,000 on a current account, but the disruption suffered by those whose identities have been stolen and misused is devastating.
It takes an average of 539 days to discover that you’ve become a victim of ID fraud and it can then take a further 300 hours of work to clear your name. In the meantime, you can find it impossible to get a mortgage, loan or credit card because your credit report – the history of your credit obligations, repayment record, applications for credit, court judgements and bankruptcies – has been ruined by an unscrupulous stranger.
Fraudsters use birth certificates to impersonate dead people – a crime known as jackal fraud
How ID fraud happens
Unlike with a lot of other crimes, with ID fraud, 97% of victims do not have any knowledge of or connection with the person who hijacks their identity. The fraud usually begins with criminals targeting perfect strangers, most frequently by raiding their rubbish in search of discarded documents such as bank and credit card statements or stealing personal documents such as passports and birth certificates.
Thieves may also get the information they need through the post. To hijack a current address, a fraudster either intercepts post and impersonates the victim or places a postal redirection on the name and address. If a criminal gets hold of enough personal details, he or she can also take over an identity at a previous address. Fraudsters have also been known to use birth certificates to impersonate dead people – a crime known as jackal fraud, after the assassin in The Day of the Jackal.
Londoners are more than four times as likely as the UK average to become victims of ID fraud
Some of us are at greater risk than others
Among the groups most at risk of ID fraud are graduates renting private accommodation; young couples with children and high outgoings; young, reasonably affluent single people in shared, rented accommodation; extremely successful people from very wealthy households; and high earners who live in premium city addresses.
Londoners are more than four times as likely as the UK average to become victims of ID fraud – of 54 areas of the UK classified as very high risk, 20 are in London. Southerners aren’t much safer – the remaining very high risk areas are all within the M25.
The time we are most vulnerable to fraudsters is when we are moving home
How to detect and avoid ID fraud
One of the most common ways of finding out that someone is trying to steal your identity is finding out that a fraudulent application for credit has been made in your name. For instance, you might get a letter from a lender you don’t recognise or you might see unfamiliar entries on your credit report. By the time a fraudulent account has been used, a lot of damage could have been caused.
The easiest way to keep ahead of identity criminals is to keep a regular watch on your credit report – the personal history of the credit you have taken out, such as a mortgage, loans or cards. This means you can immediately see if somebody has been impersonating you to get credit.
The time we are most vulnerable to fraudsters is when we are moving home. Almost a quarter of people in the UK risk having their identity stolen after they move home, simply because they neglect to redirect their post. Of the 76% who do remember, more than one in ten make themselves vulnerable by leaving personal documents behind. 70% of new residents receive post addressed to previous occupants that can be used to commit identity fraud.
97% of households regularly throw out documents which could be used to help steal their identity
When you clear up before you move, don’t throw out papers that contain valuable details about your identity. Shred or burn documents that you do not take with you. And if you’re letting a property, take valuable documents off-site and store them elsewhere – at the bank, with your solicitor or in a secure storage unit.
Even if you’re not moving, you can still be more vigilant. Recent research shows that 97% of households regularly throw out documents giving details such as full name, address, postcode and gender, all of which could be used to help steal their identity. 30% of us have thrown away an entire credit or debit card number and 46% have dumped a document that includes bank account number and sort code. But by far the most frightening fact is this: 48% of people have thrown away everything a fraudster would need to take over their ID.
You can add security features to your credit report to obstruct the fraudster and reduce any inconvenience caused to you
What to do if your identity has been stolen
Contact the police immediately if you think you have become a victim of identity theft. Tell them you think your identity has been stolen and used fraudulently and get a crime number or incident number. You can also contact Experian. Their Victims of Fraud specialists are trained to help you sort things out, and can add security features to your credit report to obstruct the fraudster and reduce any inconvenience caused to you.
The sooner you act, the easier it is to limit the damage. Always report the loss of key documents – credit cards, cheque books, passport and so on – to the organisation that provided them and to the police. Get them cancelled and replaced. Contact any lender who has given credit in your name when you know you have not applied for it. Keep a record of all your conversations and correspondence.
If you think your mail is being interfered with, contact the Post Office straight away and ask them to investigate. If your post is delivered to a central point, such as the hall of a block of flats, make sure that you always collect it promptly.
Although it might take time to find out whether your actions have been too late and fraud already committed, as a rule, the sooner you act to protect your identity, the more likely you are to prevent fraudsters from making a victim out of you.
Published on: 9 July 2007
