ID fraudsters soak the rich

Identity fraud grew alarmingly in the UK last year, with affluent Londoners particularly at risk, according to figures from credit reference agency Experian. More than 6,000 victims of identity fraud contacted Experian last year, compared with 3,500 in 2006. These directly reported incidents are just a tiny fraction of the 10, …

[Anonymous Coward]

Experian suck

I note they claim most people find out from credit monitoring reports - these are the things Experian and Equifax sell, even though it's OUR data and by rights we should be able to access it as we please.

They do provide free reports - but they're intentionally crippled to upsell you into the subscriptions.

I especially like the quotes from the head of Equifax where he claims free credit reports are 'unconstitutional' because they eat into his profits. It's OUR data mate!

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20050629/1122246_F.shtml

None of this would be an issue if we could put free reporting and blocks on our credit reports - as soon as a search is requested, send an email to the persons verified account and hold it until they're happy. There'll be no more of this scamming and no way for Equifax et al to sell us our own data. Unfortunately because of this last point, it'll never happen.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why don't I feel sorry?

I feel bad about not feeeling sorry for the rich.

[William Morton]

Employment Agencies link missing

When was the last time you registered with an employment agency and didn't have to give all the information that an ID thief is looking for? These agencies also pass information about their clients to many uncertified groups without notifying anyone.

So as an ID thief all I need to do is make up some bogus job position being availible and I get all I need from these agencies directly. I wonder why no one has officially corralated career hunting to ID theft and why these employment agencies employees are not security cleared.

[Ted Treen]

‘ID fraudsters target affluent’

Sensible.

Not a lot of point in targeting the impoverished.

Do I get my prize now?

Or do I just get my coat?

[Anonymous Coward]

No sympathy

for loan companies and stores.

We got a store card (we wanted the massive discount offered) and all it took was another debit card, and a few basic details, both of which we could of easily got by stealing a handbag.

10 minutes later we had a card and £1000 worth of items....

It's far to easy to get credit with almost no identification. Of course the ID card will solve all these issues.

[Anonymous Coward]

RE:Why don't I feel sorry?

Don't feel bad. Someone poorer than you will no doubt feel perfectly justified in ripping YOU off.

[Anonymous Coward]

RE: Experian suck

"I note they claim most people find out from credit monitoring reports - these are the things Experian and Equifax sell, even though it's OUR data and by rights we should be able to access it as we please."

Actually, no. If you sign up for credit you agree that they can pass you data to reference agencies. If you want access to that data, you have to pay a fee, as per DPA.

I don't see why access to it should be free. It costs them time and money to give you the data, so why should they do that for you for free?

They do spend allot of time and money compiling that data.

[Daniel B.]

Re: Why don't I feel sorry?

Ah, true, they're stealing the rich.

But then, wouldn't those statistics be wrong? Everyone knows its Nottingham where the rich people are robbed ;)

[Les Matthew]

Target the affluent?

Send em to the ISS where they can target the effluent.

[Draybird]

Errrrr?

I guess this is only a prob. if you use credit? Estimate your bills a year in advance, add 10% for luck, pay up, and grumble that their making interest on your payments. Play hell if they ask for more. And don't keep one's eggs in one basket - ever. An empty bank account helps :)

And as for credit agencies - there's a one off fee for a copy of your credit file - about 4 ukp last time I looked. Don't be fooled by the adverts that claim that by knowing the contents, you are somehow protected. Any negative references won't be removed. A note will added to your file simply showing you disagree and (sometimes) why.

It's up to the credit provider to decide from that info whether you're a risk. Beans on Toast anyone?

[Andrew]

Equifax will give all your details away to spammers

"Equifax et al to sell us our own data" - they will even sell our own data to scammers, I requested a credit report once using a single use email address, 1 year later that email address started receiving bank phishings attempts.

[Draybird]

Monkeys

@Andrew.

Wouldn't worry about it. They simply need to use the "Thousand monkeys in a thousand tree's" principle. Despite the paranoid womblings of a minority, though it SEEMS like you've been targeted, it's almost certain that it they use a simple script long enough, you're gon a get a hit sometime. And a year is a long time in tech.

You recognised a phish when you saw one, that's all that matters.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Captain Obvious to the rescue!

Woah, no way? Fraudsters target the rich? You mean they don't go to all that trouble to impersonate someone and steal their identity in order to be able to take on the debt repayments of the poverty-stricken? Well I never!

An apocryphal tale relates how the famous US bank robber, Willie Sutton, was once asked by a journalist "Why do you rob banks"? His answer: "Because that's where the money is".

[Pyros]

Hypothetically...

In a way, you *could* pull some interesting indirect methods to defraud the affluent. My idea revolves around taking only $100 from each victim and passing it to a temporary account, and quickly liquidate the proceeds to cover your trail.

Lather, rince, repeat.

Granted, you need access like mentioned above, and some mileage on your travels, but that's just ONE way to do it. There's so many ways to defraud people that sometimes it just doesn't pay to have credit.

Personal control is the best, IMO--use your head, verify your purchases, and review your statements. I've had it happen to me before.

[Anonymous Coward]

Reminds me ....

In the mid 90's I was working on a contract for a major high street banks card division and for a while confused sheeple kept contacting them over 'card' bills for cards never rec'd .... The resulting investigation found that whilst the cards had indeed been ordered, they never arrived, finger of blame hovered at the PO for a time until a pissed off member of the public decided they'd send a suspicious package in the mail.

Cue "Bomb threat" policies within the postroom, the resulting 'confusion' then led to the discovery of an enterprising post boy who was simply intercepting the cards, and could use them to his hearts content whilst monitoring the system until a stop was activated on the affected accounts ....

Plod was called, the lad was sacked but, you guessed correct, it never got to court, and the reason, it would knock confidence in the system ....

[Dennis]

@ anonymous coward's "RE: Experian suck"

Why is it the biggest idiots always choose to post to El Reg anonymously?

I can't even find a line in that comment worth arguing.

[Paul Hampson]

Residents in College Gardens in Tooting, south London, were five times as likely to fall victim

All these very localized hotspots. Hmm. Couldn't possibly be the local post man (or person at the sorting office) could it? Nothing against posties but there are always a few bad apples.

[Tom]

Information getting passed around

I started getting junk mail sent to my girlfriends parents house a little while ago. The only thing that ever connected me with their address was that I was a named driver on her mothers car insurance when we borrowed her car to go on holiday about 8 months before I started getting the mail. After chasing this up, the insurance company deny all knowledge of sharing the information.