Identity fraud hotspots surge

Posted in 'Identity Theft' by Barry Stamp

25 September 2009

The number of postcodes where identity thieves are active has increased substantially in August and September, putting many hundreds of innocent consumers at risk of financial fraud.

There are many theories for the underlying reason for the increase in crime, but the most voiced one is that criminals believe that if they attack a financial institution during a peak holiday period – typically Easter, August Bank Holiday week and at Christmas – then most senior staff will be on holiday and the risk of detection by less experienced staff will be lessened.

Another theory is that the current Royal Mail strike means that hundreds of thousands of pieces of sensitive mail are static and are much more vulnerable to theft.

Whatever the cause, the identity thieves appear to be well prepared. A study of all cases recently referred to the Police High Tech Crimes Unit shows that most are targeting consecutive odd or even numbered houses in the same street, which suggests the real possibility of mail interception. Most already know the full names and dates of birth of each victim, which suggests a very high level of ability in data-mining.

There’s no doubt that identity fraud is now a much more complex and technically competent crime than existed even a few years ago.

The latest postcode districts at risk are:

DA11
DA2
EN10
GU11
N17
N18
N9
NW10
RM8
SE18
SE6
SE9
SL2
SL3
SW16
TW13

To check whether your exact postcode is a current identity fraud hotspot, use our Check Your Postcode service, which is completely free.

To guard against falling victim why not try our free Identity Theft Expert System? This will look at your lifestyle and point you in the direction of things you can do – most costing nothing more than a change in habits – to help increase your personal protection.

We also recommend that if you’re not already a subscriber, you sign up to our Unlimited Access service so you can monitor what’s going on with your accounts. From only £4.85 per month, this can give real peace of mind.