Young, male professional in London at highest risk of identity theft

 

March 25, 2008

Over recent years an increasing number of people have become more and more concerned about identity theft and fraud, and this type of criminal activity has become rife – not helped by the level of data loss blunders that have been seen over the past year. However, according to a recent report those at highest risk of becoming victims of identity theft are young, male professionals living in the London area.

The data comes from statistics gathered by the DQM Group, and comes at a time when around 50% of consumers have admitted that they do not trust High Street banks when it comes to the protection of their personal and sensitive details. Identity fraud costs taxpayers around £1.7 billion a year, and MPs are now calling for a specialist official to be appointed to help combat the rising levels of identity fraud in the UK. Another recent report showed that plastic card fraud rocketed last year by 25% as a result of counterfeit and stolen cards being used abroad where there is no Chip and Pin technology in place.

One fraud prevention specialist stated: ‘The majority of adults in the UK have a bank or building society account, yet just half actually trust those organisations with their personal information. Well over 45m people in the UK have a mobile phone, but less than one in 10 of those polled trust their mobile company with their personal details.’

He added: ‘Essentially, businesses need to tackle identity fraud with the same vigour as they are already doing with environmental issues. If they don’t, then it’s highly likely that consumers will form pressure groups to get their voices heard.’

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Written by admin · Filed Under Credit Cards, General 

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