Peter A Clarke

The figures are sobering.  CIFAS a fraud prevention service reports that in the United Kingdom:

• 89,000 identity cases in the first six months of the year;
• identity fraud will now account for 56% of all fraud cases.

Interestingly the misuse of identity theft in the UK has changed, with credit card fraud falling 12% while bank account fraud fell 14% to 25,000. Then again other types of fraud have grown significantly, such as fraudulent loans, up 54%, telecoms fraud, up 61% , and online retail, up 56%.

Interestingly the crime of taking out insurance in someone’s name increased  from 20 cases to more than 2,000.  Why, because it is a straightforward way of accessing personal data to fuel more serious fraud.

One explanation for the rise and falls in certain areas is that where security improves criminals focus on less well-defended organisations or parts of organisations.

Identity theft, particularly of medical records, has the advantage of facilitating a whole range of crimes to obtain financial advantage.  A psychiatrist in Wilmington Delaware was charged in July of submitting more than $100,000 in insurance claims using patient’s personal information.  In April a pharmacy technician was charged with stole credit card information from pharmacy records.

The problem has become so chronic that a new services is being offered in America which alerts a person when someone is using their social security number.