Identity thieves targeting the tech-savvy
Prolific users of mobile and social technology account for 23 per cent of identity fraud victims in 2015.
The UK's most tech-savvy people are at greater risk of identity fraud than those who only use digital technology on a practical day to day basis, according to Experian.
New research by the credit checking company shows the most prolific users of mobile and social technology make up just 7.7 per cent of the UK population, but they account for nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of all identity fraud victims last year. Identity thefts for this group rose by 16.7 per cent over the previous 12 months.
As the other end of the spectrum, the second biggest rise in identity thefts was seen in older, retired households, mainly from rural communities with little interest in technology and slower broadband. Fraud cases rose by a worrying 15.4 per cent for this group, who Experian say are targeted through phone and email scams.
Identity theft occurs when a fraudster pretends to be an individual to buy products or take out a loan. Victims may not even know they have been targeted until they have credit rating problems or receive a bill.
According to fraud protection service, Cifas, criminals will generally have the victim's name, date of birth, address, the name of their bank and who they have accounts with. Information is acquired through hacking, data loss and social media to piece together the person's identity.
Recent research by Cifas found there has been a 52 per cent rise in the number of young victims of identity fraud in the UK. According to their figures, there were just under 24,000 identity fraud victims aged 30 and under in 2015, compared to 15,766 in 2014 and 11,000 in 2010. Furthermore, 86 per cent of identity frauds were carried out online last year.
Experian is offering advice on some proactive steps people can take to protect themselves, including locking mobile devices with a passcode and setting a different password for each online account, using a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols. It's also important to keep up to date with the latest antivirus protection and update apps when new versions are released.
Fraudsters can gather lots of information from social media sites, so people are urged to be cautious about what they post, for example, email addresses, date of birth and family pet names - particularly if these are used for passwords.
Receiving unexpected, irrelevant mail could be a sign of identity fraud, for example if somebody doesn't own a car and suddenly starts receiving car magazines, it could be an indication that a car has been purchased in their name. You can also check your credit report to see if credit has been falsely applied for.
For more information, see: http://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/identity-theft.html
Joanne Webster, a professor of parasitic diseases at the RVC, has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS).
