IDENTITY FRAUD RIFE IN U.K.

You may think that identity theft is something that can never happen to you. However it seems that criminals are increasingly targeting people’s identities with at least one in ten of us falling victim to identity fraud. Identity theft is one of the fastest growing criminal activities in the U.K. and costs the country an estimated £1.3billion a year. Most identity thieves not only steal their victim’s identity but also steal money from financial organisations by impersonating their victims. The effects of this can wreck your credit file and have a significant impact on your life. You may be refused credit cards or a loan if someone is running up bad credit in your name. Also mortgage lenders may not offer you a mortgage if you have a poor credit rating.

Don’t let it happen to you! Prevention is definitely better than cure in the case of identity fraud as the mess it creates can be horrendous. It is more important than ever to check your credit score and monitor your credit report regularly to check for any suspicious activity. Monitoring your credit report definitely enhances card fraud detection. Credit-Score.org is the ideal site to do this. You can get your credit score online and avoid embarrassing refusals when applying for loans, mortgages or credit cards, whilst also checking for fraudulent activity at the same time. You can also use the site to review articles on credit cards and get instructions on how to create a good credit history or how to improve a bad rating. The site also offers fraud prevention services, including identity theft insurance, essential in this day and age.

A recent survey revealed that many Britons don’t check their bank accounts or statements on a regular basis to spot identity fraud. The main reasons for this are they are afraid of seeing how far in the red they are or just forget to check due to lack of time. In fact only 14 per cent of Britons would notice if a £1,000 went missing from their account, whilst eight out of ten Britons wouldn’t notice. Frightening news and this plays right into the hands of fraudsters. You owe it to yourself and your security to always check bank and building society statements regularly. This is obviously now more important than ever nowadays when fraud and identity theft are rife.