Moving Home Increases ID Theft Risk 04/07/2005

Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the UK. Research by identity protection service CreditExpert from Experian suggests that 24% of people are affected by identity theft when they move home due to forgetting to re-direct their post, and approximately 11% of people leave personal documents behind.

Personal documents can be used by fraudsters to obtain credit in someone else's name. This could then cause problems for the victim of fraud when they want to obtain a loan, mortgage or any other financial product.

Personal information left behind that can be considered useable by a fraudster can include:

• Personal Mail/Letters
• Bank Statements
• Utility Bills
• Addressed Mail Order Catalogues

The advice given to help reduce identity fraud is to shred any personal documents before disposing of them.

The main group of people targeted by identity fraud are students living in rented accommodation. Approximately 37% of students reported receiving post addressed to previous tenants, with 8% stating they received personal documents such as passports and cheque books.

To reduce the risk of identity fraud when moving house, the following measures should be considered:

• As soon as you move, re-direct all post.
• Banks, financial organisations and credit card companies should be informed when you move house.
• Register your previous address with the Mailing Preference Service