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There are pproximately 75,000 cases
of identity fraud each year in the UK, costing the British
economy £1.3 billion annually.
Around £50
million was lost through benefit fraud and £430
million from credit card fraud.
Who are potential victims of Identity Theft
Ultimately we are all victims. Whether we pay though higher
bank charges, credit card interest rates or taxes. However,
there are three main targets of ID theft affecting:
What kinds of Frauds are there?
The types of frauds evolve every day. Often they play of
peoples good nature (Charity Fraud), Greed (e.g. help them
to teal money for a %) or naevity (bank / credit card email
fraud)
Other types affecting institutions are:
-
Application Fraud - where a fraudster applies for payment
cards and financial products in the name of their victim
-
Account take-over - where the fraudster collates sufficient
information about the victim to dupe the victim's bank
-
Wholesale assumption of the victims identity - obtaining
false passports and identification documents or using
the identity of a dead person which may result in fraudulent
claims for social security benefits;
-
The fraudulent use of a business identity
There are a number of ways businesses can reduce the risk
of fraud:
Data-sharing and cross referencing of information between
governmental agencies and the business sector
-
Technological and organisational methods which can be
implemented to detect and prevent identity fraud
-
Fraud reporting systems and the appointment of personnel
with specific responsibility
-
Making directors more responsible for preventing fraud
For individuals you can do the following:
- Never reveal personal details unless you know who you
are talking to
- Never revel security to people calling you
- Shred statements and other personal documents
- Never let your credit card out of your sight
- Never respond to emails asking you to respond with security
details
Trojan Horses are another way of using your computer to reveal info about you
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