Criminal Identity Theft

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Many criminals are now exploiting our naivety and are obtaining confidential information, such as bank account numbers, addresses, credit card numbers, and birth certificates etc in order to rob us blind!

Criminals can gather our secure information from a number of sources. Some use the internet, asking us to reconfirm our bank details online. Others use the telephone to impersonate our bank or building society, once again asking us to confirm our secure information over the telephone. Criminals can also obtain much of our personal data directly from our rubbish bins as a large percentage of the population continue to discard important bills and statements without shredding them first.

At the present time, police are cautious when it comes to criminal identity theft. This offense is often difficult to prosecute and the offender difficult to track down. Moreover, financial records and reports are not easily cleared of this fraudulent spending which can cause future headaches when applying for credit, home mortgages and even jobs

The real trouble with identity theft is that the burden of proof lies on the victim. The victim must have enough information and data in order to clear up the mess once the ID thief has gone. Not only that, if the imposter had committed a serious offense, the clear-up process can take years.

If you ever found out that someone is using your identity:

1. Act quickly. Talk to the companies involved (usually banks) to report the misuse of an account in your name. Contact other institutions to put a temporary hold on your account. Although they may not be affected now, by freezing them you can be sure that flags will be raised should an ID thief try to use them.

2. Report this offence to your local police who, more likely than not, will put you in touch with their national Identity Theft Team.

Do not let somebody damage your reputation. Take the essential precautions to protect yourself from criminal identification theft.