Fraud Alert - Identity Theft/Fraud

What is identity theft?

There are two sides to the problem:

Traditionally the first is where a thief steals an individuals actual identity, perhaps through stealing cheque books, personal bills, or details through open source checks (internet, births & deaths registers etc). Such details may allow the thief to open bank accounts, gain credit cards, loans, state benefits, or simply to take over the victim’s existing accounts. The details may also be used to obtain genuine documents such as passports and driving licenses in that individual’s name.

The second part of the problem is the use of false identities to commit fraud.

What is the extent of the problem?

Generally the two issues above have been grouped together making it difficult to identify the extent of the problem.

The 2002 Cabinet Office Study, which covered the use of false identities and the theft of other people's identities, estimated that crime facilitated by identity fraud cost the UK £1.3 billion per annum. The Home Office Identity Fraud Steering Committee completed an exercise to update the Cabinet Office for the purpose of establishing trends in the cost of identity fraud. The latest estimate (February 2006 available at http://www.identity-theft.org.uk/ID fraud table.pdf) is that identity fraud costs the UK economy £1.7 billion.

The latest methods of ID theft involve:

• calling victims pretending to be their bank, or other financial institution and asking customers to confirm their personal details, passwords and security numbers.
• targeted phishing attacks; a criminal activity where “phishers” attempt to fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy financial instituitons on the internet.
• malicious software such as spyware which can surreptitiously collect personal information from personal computers.
• gathering of personal details through personal information posted on the web; such as on social networking sites.
• stealing mail left in communal areas of residential properties or thrown out in the rubbish.
• stealing personal data through stealing your belongings i.e. wallet, purse, burglary etc.

Key Messages

Protect yourself!

• Be careful with your personal information. If you receive a telephone call from a credit card company, bank or other retail company asking to confirm certain details about yourself decline them and ask to call them back preferably through a central switchboard. Never give out personal details or passwords.
• When destroying personal correspondence such as bank and credit card statements consider a shredder or even burning them with garden refuse. If you cannot do either then tear the papers up into very small pieces and place in the refuse bin with other waste products.
• If you move address remember to inform all of the companies that send personal information to you in the post. Always consider re-directing your post with Royal Mail. If you fail to do this people moving in might have free access to your personal details and misappropriate them.
• Always use an anti virus programme and firewall on your computer.
• Beware of unsolicited emails. Do not respond to emails that have apparently originated from your bank or other authority/company. Remember that a bank will not ask for your details via unsolicited emails.
• Do not post personal details on the internet which could collectively be used to clone your identity.
• Instruct your bank not to accept any payments abroad unless previously authorised.

How do you know if are victim to this type of fraud?

• Are you missing your regular monthly financial statements?
  If so they could be being redirected to a fraudster.
• Have you noticed charges to your accounts that are not yours?
  Remember to check all statements especially bank and credit card.
• Being contacted by a debt collection agency about outstanding payments for items or services that you have not ordered. Beware of companies contacting you unexpectedly and asking for personal information.

Take Action - Act Quickly

• Firstly do not ignore the problem it might not be you that has ordered some goods or opened an account but the debt falls to your name and address.
• Once blacklisted for credit it may take many years to fully recover the problem. You might have difficulties in obtaining a mortgage or other bank credit.
• When unexpectedly called, ask for a name and contact number and verify this with the organisation before calling back. They should be able to provide your customer reference number which can obtain from billing documents.
• Consider obtaining a copy of your credit report from a credit reference agency such as Callcredit, Equifax or Experian, and monitor your report for discrepancies.

What is the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) doing?

The Economic and Specialist Crime Command, is committed to combating organised financial crime throughout London. Identity fraud impacts on many of our investigations as both a precursor and crime enabler.

Operation Sterling is the MPS strategy for combating economic crime in London through a proactive interventionist approach. A Proactive Prevention Team works to identify areas of weakness that are being exploited by organised criminal networks and takes preventative action to disrupt them.
The Fraud Alert website (http://www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/) is an advice site, administered by Operation Sterling to inform and advise potential victims of financial crime and industry, providing information to aid prevention and create disruption to criminal enterprises.

Our approach has seen us forge partnerships with both public and private industry including eBay, Western Union and APACS (http://www.banksafeonline.org.uk/) to proactively identify and prevent victims being defrauded. Sterling is actively involved in the National Home Office Identity Fraud Steering Committee, the Identity Fraud Consumer Awareness Group and the Identity Fraud Working Group. Sterling has also forged links with Companies House and worked through providing a dedicated liaison officer to identify and prevent attempts to take over companies identities for use in criminality.

Sterling has run operations in partnership with courier companies, which resulted in the seizure of hundreds of forged cheques with a face value of £15million. Each of those cheques was destined for an unsuspecting potential victim.

Operation MAXIM (http://www.met.police.uk/op_maxim/)is the MPS partnership with the UK Immigration Service and the UK Passport Service targeting organized immigration crime and human trafficking in London. Through its work MAXIM has obtained convictions for a wide range of immigration related offences, including convictions for visa scams, allowing people to entered the UK on false documentation, and also identifying and disrupting a number of illegal passport factories in London.

The Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit (http://www.dcpcu.org.uk/) is a joint MPS and City of London Police unit that works with and is sponsored by the banking industry to manage serious cheque and credit card fraud. The investment by industry provides a nine-fold return on their investment and is an excellent example of private and public sector partnership.

Useful websites

http://www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/
http://www.stop-idfraud.co.uk/
http://www.banksafeonline.org.uk/
http://www.identity-theft.org.uk/index.htm
http://www.idfraud.org.uk/