Identity fraud
Identity fraudsters don't care if you are dead or alive and will stop at nothing in their attempts to steal money, no matter what the distress caused to bereaved partners and relatives.
CIFAS, the UK's Fraud Prevention Service, reported that last year, 2,500 frauds involved fraudsters either assuming the identity of dead people or impersonating the recently deceased.
Of 27,000 false identity frauds established by CIFAS, spread across credit cards, asset finance, retail credit, mail order, insurance, investment management, telecommunications, factoring and share dealing, at least 9% involved criminals adopting the identities of the dead. A further 2,500 cases are still under investigation, making a possible total of 18%.
Identity theft has become the 21st century's most rapidly rising fraud type. Identity fraud and impersonation increased from 20,000 reported incidents in 1999 to 101,000 in 2003, an increase of 198 %.
False identity fraud is the fastest growing fraud in the UK. This is a US import, in the sense that the phenomenon was first identified in the States. Criminals learn from each other and if a practice is seen to be effective, it will be quickly adopted.
This type of fraud is particularly focused on the UK because unlike continental Europe, we do not have an identity card system.
Criminals probably see the UK as having more lax laws on identification of individuals than other EU states, where ID cards are routinely carried. Often the first sign that a victim has been targeted is when a bailiff turns up on the doorstep.
CIFAS strongly advises consumers:
- Take great care of passports, driving licences, and trade union cards. Report any losses immediately to the proper authorities.
- All instances of fraud should be reported to the police. If you suspect fraud, check with the Post Office that no mail re-direction has been placed at your address under your name.
- When you move house, make sure that you put a mail re-direction in place for at least one year.
- Do not throw away individually addressed junk mail. Either shred it or tear it up into little pieces. The information contained on it can be enough for an identity fraud.
- When making applications for credit or insurance on the telephone or in a public place like a shop, take care to ensure that your personal details are not overheard by others, who might use them in an identity fraud.
- Retrieve any surplus papers containing your personal details and destroy them yourself.