Identity theft up 12%

by Gill Montia

Story link: Identity theft up 12%

A new report from CreditExpert.co.uk claims that there has been a significant increase in applications for credit by fraudsters, since the beginning of the year.

Using data derived from National Hunter, a fraud prevention database operated by Experian, the firm has noted a 12% rise since January 2009, broken down as follows:

In the first three months of the year, there were 11.91 cases of identity fraud per 10,000 credit applications.

The proportion increased to 12.72 cases per 10,000 applications between April and June and in the third quarter of the year rose again to 13.37.

CreditExpert spokesman, Darryl Bowman, sees the surge as very worrying.

He comments: “As we get wiser to protecting ourselves from fraud, it’s clear that criminals are working even harder to steal our personal details so they can apply for credit.”

Consumers should therefore watch out for tell tale signs, such as missing post, unexpected phone calls and strange emails, all of which suggest potentially fraudulent activity.