Money Watch – Personal Finance Blog

Did You Know It’s National Identity Fraud Prevention Week?

In the eggcitement of finding out that this week is National Egg Week, you can be forgiven for overlooking the fact that it also happens to be “National Identity Fraud Prevention Week” from today.

The purpose of the week is to raise the profile of the problem of identity fraud:

National Identity Fraud Prevention Week is a nationwide awareness campaign designed to help you protect yourself and your business from identity fraud, one of the UK’s fastest growing crimes.

With 80% of fearing having our identities stolen, identity fraud is becoming a growing problem – but if you’re unsure quite what identitiy fraud is, the following information should help you out.

What is identity fraud?

Identity fraud occurs when somebody’s personal information is used by someone else without their knowledge to obtain credit, goods or other services fraudulently.

According to figures published to promote the week, 1 in 4 of us in the UK has been affected by identity fraud or knows somebody who has.

How Does Identity Fraud Occur?

There are several ways in which criminals can get their hands on your personal information:

This is just a basic list of ways identity fraud can occur – visit the National Identity Fraud week website for more information.

Perhaps one of the most interesting stats highlighted is that according to credit check company Experian, it takes an average of 467 days to discover that you’re a victim of identity theft. So almost a year and a half after it happens, you should know about it! This shows just how difficult it can be to pick up, and also how difficult it can be to do anything about it – by the time you find out, the criminal has probably done all they can with your identity, and moved onto their next victim.

Later this week we’ll look at ways of preventing identity fraud

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