National Identity Fraud Prevention Week is an annual campaign that seeks to inform businesses and the general public and about the threat of ID fraud and the simple steps businesses and consumers can take to protect themselves. The campaign was launched this Monday 18 October.
For the first time, this year’s campaign included the “Identity Fraud Prevention Awards”, a best practice award that seeks to reward a company doing excellent work in fighting identity fraud. There were many deserving entries and it was a hard choice for the judges between companies who have all been going over and above to protect themselves and their customers. The judges announce that the winner of this year’s award is Welcome Baby Home. The Identity Fraud Prevention Awards are supported by City of London Police, Equifax, Experian, Fellowes, Metropolitan Police and the National Fraud Authority.
Welcome Baby Home is a small business that provides clothing and accessories for babies. In 2009, they received a £2,000 fraudulent purchase request on their website which resulted in loss of funds. After realising they had put themselves and their customers at risk, they reevaluated and changed their overall approach to information security. This included changing their billing and security practices to ensure they were the safest possible as well as updating their payment processing systems, running full background checks on employees, following up by phone on purchases over £50 and revamping their supply chain processes to ensure personal data is treated securely. They are now proud examples of how to prevent identity fraud.
John Inverdale, official spokesperson for this year’s National Identity Fraud Prevention Week says: “My experience has made me realise just how important it is for people to protect themselves and their businesses from identity fraud. Businesses can take simple steps to protect themselves such as creating an anti-fraud policy, as well as having a comprehensive IT security policy and securely destroying all sensitive documents.”
"It is always a hard lesson to learn when a business is caught out by fraud. But Welcome Baby Home took the right attitude, and looked at all aspects of their business processes to give them a much greater level of protection, making them the deserved winners of the inaugural Identity Fraud Prevention Awards" said Neil Munroe of Equifax. "At Equifax we encourage businesses of all sizes to do the checks that both protect their own financial stability, and their customers’ data."
Tyron Hill of Fellowes agrees: “The award entries have been particularly gratifying as while many companies are complacent about the risks of identity fraud, there are clearly businesses who are striving to fight identity fraud and who are succeeding in putting effective procedures and measures in place. Often these measures are inexpensive and save a lot of money and heartache in the long run if they prevent identity fraud.”
