Identity Thieves Target the 'Rich'
Credit rating agency Experian has warned that identity thieves are increasingly targeting the UK's wealthy consumers, with credit cards attracting intense scrutiny from fraudsters.
The warning comes after the agency revealed that of the 2,124 Brits that used their helpline last year, company directors and business people were the most common victims.
Worryingly, almost half the victims had not realised that they had fallen foul of identity thieves until a financial services firm had contacted them.
Although the introduction of the chip and pin system has made it more difficult for identity fraudsters, credit cards and store cards still suffer from fraudsters as well as mail order companies.
Those carrying out identity fraud tend to be organised criminals rather than opportunist thieves resulting in many victims having their current address rather than their previous one being used for fraud.
Jill Stevens of Experian, said: "Those individuals most likely to fall victim will use restaurants more often, spend more time in hotels and rent more cars. These organisations hold a huge amount of personal data, but many may not necessarily have the levels of security that a large retail bank would have."
London appears to be the centre for identity fraud, especially with the amount of credit cards used there, with wealthy people and those with upmarket addresses targeted most.
However, Experian also pointed out that those living in rented flats were still extremely vulnerable as fraudsters find it slightly easier to steal mail, which invariably contains sensitive personal details that can be used by identity thieves.
Jill Stevens added: "The opportunistic identity fraudster remains a very real threat to consumers."
Consumers can still, however, help ensure they don't fall victim to identity theft by shredding documents that contain personal financial data and keeping their pin numbers safe.
Alisdair Milton
16th April 2007
More Information:
- Identity Theft
Identity theft is a major issue in the UK, and with good reason. It has been estimated that it can take up to sixty hours of work to recover a stolen identity, and in the worst cases, cost up to £8000 to put right. But what can be dome to prevent this?
- ‘Vishing’ – A New Type Of Credit Card Fraud
With the full integration of Chip and PIN technology in 2005, credit card fraudsters now have to look for ever more ingenious ways to try and defraud UK credit cardholders. Topping this list is a very ingenious and sophisticated telephone scam that fraudsters are using to obtain the credit details of cardholders – ‘vishing’.
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