Odd News

Don't throw away your identity

(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-10-16 16:40

LONDON - Nearly half of UK householders are still throwing out information which can be used by criminals to steal their identity, crime experts have warned.

Police and consumer organisations are launching a second national identity fraud prevention week on Monday after it was revealed that people are often throwing away correspondence containing their bank and personal details in their wastebins.

Such careless action is fuelling ID fraud which now amounts to some 1.7 billion pounds a year.

Researchers found as many as 97 percent of 120 households targeted in a bin-raiding test in London had regularly thrown away paper carrying their name and address which could be used to create a person's profile.

About 48 percent of households lobbed into the bin all the information criminals need to carry out ID fraud.

A break-down of the information showed credit and debit card numbers had been thrown away in rubbish by 30 percent of households.

About 46 percent had left documents containing bank account numbers and sort codes, while 73 percent had binned paper showing their exact signature on a credit or debit card.

Researchers, helped by council officials, rifled through the rubbish and re-cycling boxes of residents living in four streets in Wandsworth, southwest London.

Although the sample numbers are small, they indicate that a lack of care persists despite repeated warnings that fraud is on the rise -- increasing more than five-fold from 20,000 cases in 1999 to 137,000 in 2005, according to CIFAS, the UK's fraud prevention service.

Households are being encouraged to shred letters and documents which contain personal information.

Nigel Evans, MP, chairman of the all party group on identity fraud, told the BBC: "People are still not doing enough to protect themselves.

"Throwing away your personal details is as good as advertising them in the local paper. We are making it far too easy for the identity thieves."