Identity theft occurs when your personal information is used by someone else without your knowledge. It seems that many of us are completely unaware of the crime and would be shocked to learn that someone else was using our own identity to obtain benefits for instance. It is estimated that more than 100,000 people are affected by identity theft in the UK each year, costing the British economy over £1.3 billion annually. The theft may have originally occurred literally in your back yard. The emergence of the Chip and Pin system will cut the instances of id fraud greatly. In 2004, fraud on lost and stolen cards and counterfeit cards together accounted for almost half (48%) of all losses.
Always shred any private information before you dispose of it to stop others rummaging through your rubbish and stealing paperwork such as loan offers from banks or credit card companies.
This particular criminal activity is on the increase and is in fact one of the fastest crimes in the UK . It can take up to 14 months before a person even realises that they have been a victim. It is vital that you cancel all lost credit cards and report all lost or stolen documents such as driving license or passport.
There are various ways in which you can discover if you are a victim and these are as follows;
- Unexplained credit refusal - If you have a good credit history and then are suddenly refused credit you should check that someone else has not taken out a loan against your name and then defaulted on the repayments.
- Unexplained credit entries - If you discover that your personal credit file has entries from organisations that you don't recognize.
- Unexplained debt - Alarm bells should ring if you receive notification by a financial institution you don't deal with.
- Unexplained refusal - You may be surprised to find that a benefit you apply for is already allocated to your name.
It goes without saying that if you believe you are a victim of fraud you should alert the police. |
