Independent Banking Advisory Service 

The Internet, Identity Theft or ID Theft and Fraud

Fraudsters target bank accounts  -The credit crunch is causing identity fraudsters to target bank account holders, a report says. The all-party parliamentary group on identity fraud says thieves are finding it more difficult to use fake identities to open new accounts because of restrictions on credit. The group warned that fraudsters are now targeting existing accounts. One scam involves a bogus e-mail from Revenue and Customs, asking for bank account details to receive a tax rebate. - 08/10/2008

During the last year there has been a huge amount of personal information and identification data lost and/or mislaid by large institutions. Consumers are forced to provide many of these organizations with personal information, which if compromised and then used by fraudsters will inevitably ruin their individual financial position for many years. The flippant and often patronizing PR issued once there has been publicity of these lapses, show that institution custodianship of consumers personal information is lax. This issue has not been given enough serious attention by Government. Barclay's chairman lost his financial 'identity' recently in a Visa Card fraud which then cost Barclays 10k - but now he can begin to understand how bank customers feel when card fraud occurs. His problem was quickly corrected, as one would expect, because of his position at Barclays, others are not so fortunate.

Individuals compromised and financially penalized by loss of their own identity face considerable problems with financial institutions after the event, when attempting to correct the problem itself. They also face considerable frustration and stress when attempting to obtain any assistance in doing so.  Identity Theft and ID Frauds are growing extremely quickly because the financial rewards are considerable. ID Theft and Fraud are no longer a future threat - they are with us now. We also need action now. Identity theft was made a criminal offence in the US, and offenders can be prosecuted accordingly. The Identity Theft & Assumption Deterrence Act 1998 was introduced to criminalize identity theft, to ensure individuals (in addition to the financial institutions) are recognized as victims, and to allow for compensation for these victims. The Act allows up to 15 years imprisonment and fines up to $250,000.

We do not need ID cards to enable the UK to introduce legislation and the UK cannot wait years, whilst Government procrastinates. ID Theft and resultant ID fraud requires this Government to introduce speedy legislation to make ID Theft and resulting ID Fraud a serious criminal offence, where the huge rewards can be seen to carry an equally huge risk for those who are caught. - 17th January 2008