Identity Theft Is Fastest Growing Crime In Britain

The UK government says that Identity theft is the fastest-growing crime in Britain, and that £1.7 billion a year is lost to the perpetrators of this type of fraud. And it seems that no-one is immune from this crime. The comedian Harry Hill is one of the recent victims, as well as a Member of Parliament. So anyone of us could become an Identity Theft victim. But there are effective measures you can take now, to protect yourself – and these start with checking your credit report.

You might lose your sense of humour if you’d just found out that tens of thousands of pounds had disappeared from your bank account without you suspecting anything was amiss. But that’s just what happened to comedian Harry Hill.

Harry Hill’s identity was stolen in a complex fraud operation, which involved a bank insider and criminals who registered a false address in his name, set up a fake account and steadily removed cash from Harry’s real accounts over a number of weeks.

The comedian, who stars in Harry Hill’s TV Burp and You’ve Been Framed wasn’t alone in this scam. Many other customers at the same bank also lost significant sums which totalled nearly £500,000. And they didn’t notice a thing until the crimes were uncovered unexpectedly by Harry, whose real name is Dr Matthew Hall. Luckily, Harry had visited his local bank to query some unexplained transactions on one of his accounts. Only then did staff discover the extent of the identity theft and start making enquiries about other recent account changes.

About £150,000 of the victims’ cash was recovered by the police, and the bank recompensed the victims for the balance of their losses, but all the frauds could have been prevented at the outset if Harry and the other victims had monitored their credit reports regularly.  If Harry had done so, it would have shown that he had, apparently, moved home – because the new address would have appeared on his credit report.

A credit report is a factual record of your financial history, which is referred to by all lenders – banks, credit card companies, financial institutions - when they are reviewing any applications from you for credit, whether for a loan, mortgage or credit card. They can see at a glance, whether there have been any new applications for credit or new credit accounts set up in your name, or if your address has been altered.

  the online credit monitoring and identity protection service from Experian, the UK’s largest credit reference agency. You will be able to view your report as often as you like.

Should you see anything in your report that you do not recognise – an address that means nothing to you, for example – advise CreditExpert immediately and they will investigate what’s going on, and help you set the record straight. You will also be warned by a weekly e-mail or text message whenever a significant change, such as an application for credit or a new loan account, is registered on your report.

The MP for Northampton South, Brian Binley, is someone else who could have benefited from referring to his report at CreditExpert.  Brian nearly lost £9,000 when identity thieves managed to create a false address and attempted to plunder his bank account.

“It is totally unbelievable,” Mr Binley says. “If it can happen to me, an MP, then nobody’s bank account is safe. Fortunately I spotted it in time and they have not taken any money, but it has been very worrying.”

The managing director of CreditExpert, Jim Hodgkins, advises, “It is well worth checking your report regularly, especially when your personal data changes or might have been compromised – for example, if you move house or have your wallet stolen. That way, you can stop would-be thieves from getting away with it, and save yourself a great deal of trouble.

It takes an average of more than 16 months before people discover that their identity has been stolen. In the meantime, identity fraud may have seriously damaged your credit record, preventing you from getting credit you would normally be granted. And once you find out that someone has stolen your identity, it can take up to 300 hours of work to clear your name.”It is so easy to check

You can give yourself peace of mind by checking out your credit report now. It's easy - just click here for your free Experian credit report.