A different kind of fuel!
Is it the economic slowdown and/or a lack of credit that is
leading to escalating levels of fraud?
In a time of economic uncertainty patterns of crime are
also changing.
When I think of crime I usually think of a physical action
or violation against a person or a thing - burglary, mugging or
pick pocketing. But in recent years crime has been taking a far
more sophisticated form.
One of the fastest growing crimes is identity fraud
perpetrated without the criminals even breaking into your home.
Earlier in the year a study by accountancy firm KMPG revealed
that fraud levels in 2008 have reached a 12 year high.
Other figures show cases of ‘account takeover’, where a
facility hijacker unlawfully obtains access to a victim’s
account operating it fraudulently, has more than doubled from
1,331 in the first quarter of 2007 to 3,276 in the same period
this year.
That’s a massive increase of over 136 per cent and is the
fastest-growing type of fraud currently recorded.
Officials say they cannot be sure why the figures are rising
at such an alarming rate – well let me enlighten them.
I have always thought of myself as vigilant and savvy in such
matters - following all the best advice. I cross shred
everything; and sign up to monthly alerts to check my credit
report for activity. I am registered with Cifas; and I even
resort to eating my passwords - extreme but worthwhile having
seen the chaos and distress that identity fraud can cause when
my son was a victim some years ago.
But, as a recent victim of ‘account takeover’ myself, I have
to tell you it is not enough. By obtaining everyday details
available in the public domain – Companies House, births and
deaths, and Council Tax records – criminals gathered information
on my private and business account.
They were then able to make systematic calls to the telephone
banking system, transferring funds from one account to the other
and subsequently withdrawing substantial funds using a
counterfeit passport and cheque.
It was not enough that I had never subscribed to the
telephone banking system let alone had a password or that I had
never drawn more that £200 from a cash point to alert the
banking system that the activity was fraudulent.
The subsequent lack of interest from the police is
disappointing to say the very least. Despite the availability of
CCTV and transcripts of all the calls they seem preoccupied with
soft crime.
Identify theft costs the British economy millions of pounds
annually and has become an easy and economical way for criminals
to steal money.
The ease of stealing a person’s details, coupled with the
difficulty in prosecuting such crimes clearly fuels the rise in
ID fraud.
You may recall that back in November HMRC ‘mislaid’ the
personal details of all child benefit recipients in the UK. At
the time, the banking industry released a statement to reassure
its customers that sort code and bank account, national
insurance number, date of birth, name and address details are
not enough in themselves for an ID fraudster to access a bank
account – as additional security information and passwords are
always required.
I am living proof that this is clearly not the case!
If you would like to comment on this piece please email
info@futures-supplies.co.uk
