Typical examples of identification fraud:
A member of the public receives an unsolicited telephone call for ‘marketing’ purposes and unwittingly discloses personal information including name, address and date of birth, previous adresses etc. Later they begin receiving mail from debt collection agencies. They discover that their identity has been provided on numerous occasions when goods have been purchased and credit accounts opened. Often people will not know where or how their personal information has been compromised – this can involve a great deal of difficulty for the victim to have their credit history corrected. Similar details can be obtained from sifting through your rubbish.
A member of the public uses a supermarket/high street store/petrol filling station and makes a purchase using their credit card. A rogue employee records the card details and passes card through a device to capture the magnetic stripe information. The cardholder is contacted some time later by the credit card company concerned that several ‘out of character ‘ purchases have been made to the value of several hundred pounds. Often the member of the public will not know where their details have been compromised – to make purchases by telephone and on the internet the actual card need not be in the possession of the offender.
A supplier is contacted over a short period of time to deliver goods on credit to a company address. It transpires that a genuine company of the same name has recently had its address and director details changed on the Company Register and the suppliers have been misled into accepting a legitimate companies trading and credit reputation.
In West Yorkshire, DI John Minary, the force’s Crime Reduction Officer, said: "This is a growing problem. Anything with your name and address on it can be used as a first step to stealing your identity. Your Identity is valuable, you must protect it.
National Identification Fraud Prevention Week runs from October 16 to 22 with information available on what the public can do to protect themselves and fight identity fraud. Crime prevention roadshows are being staged at shopping centres around West Yorkshire over the next few weeks as part of the Force’s autumn crime campaign ‘Strikeback’. Vouchers towards the price of a shredder will also be available.
