Nearly 4 million people in the UK have now fallen victim to ID theft as consumers continue to be careless with their personal information, despite widespread awareness of the issue.
This is the stark finding of a new study by paper shredder supplier Fellowes released to coincide with National Identity Fraud Prevention Week, which is also backed by the Metropolitan Police, Action Fraud and Norton.
According to the research 7% of the population have been victims of identity fraud, equating to more than 4 million people. The average cost of these incidents to each victim is £1,190, but some individuals have lost up to £9,000.
Operation Sterling – the Metropolitan Police Service’s fraud prevention unit – is leading the Met’s response to the 2011 National Identity Fraud Prevention Week campaign. This year their target audience is students.
Officers have already joined forces with local Safer Neighbourhood Teams to visit university fresher events where they have been handing out ID fraud prevention advice.
Detective Chief Inspector Nick Downing from Operation Sterling said: “This week is a great opportunity to not only engage with the general public but to also highlight the numerous ways that fraudsters will use stolen or false IDs to commit other more serious crimes.
“The Met is dedicated to tackling the ever changing threat of ID fraud, whether that be online, through postal scams, or over the phone.”
Jamey Johnson, head of Action Fraud, the national fraud reporting and advice centre, said: “Stealing an identity is just the beginning for a fraudster. With few details, accounts can be taken over, loans can be applied for and purchases can be made, all without the consent or knowledge of the individual, potentially costing the victim substantial sums of money.
“Last month alone (September) Action Fraud saw over £245,000 worth of loss due to identity theft. The worrying part is that this figure was generated from a limited amount of reports, suggesting the amount lost to ID theft would be much higher if more people were reporting.”
Simon Ellson, Norton by Symantec’s internet security expert, said: “This year the Internet and its ever-evolving nature has continued to inspire criminals who commit ID fraud. Just as technology evolves, so too do the methods of cybercriminals. In the last 12 months in particular, we’ve seen more opportunist criminals take advantage of ‘starter kits’ that allow them to carry out sophisticated attacks with relatively little tech know-how.
“According to the Norton Cybercrime Report 2011, the largest piece of consumer research conducted into cybercrime worldwide, online credit card fraud is one of the top three cybercrimes and accounts for 10 per cent of all cybercrime in the UK.”
