Reported UK Border Agency problems are not the whole picture

Posted in 'Identity Theft' by Barry Stamp

21 November 2011

With the UK Border Agency in the spotlight, many may believe that the government department has failed to do its duty properly. But in reality, the officers that guard our borders have an uphill task from the word go.

When a lorry containing the 3000 passports was hijacked in July 2008, the Identity and Passport Service wrote them off as worthless, arguing that new, improved, biometric passports cannot be cloned. This was followed shortly afterwards by an investigation by a national newspaper that revealed that the supposedly ‘fake-proof’ passports could easily be cloned in a matter of minutes.

The worrying and impressive ingenuity and persistence of identity thieves means that they can take over bank accounts armed with just a few personal details. The addition of a passport that can pass not only human inspection but also fool a supposed state-of-the-art computer can only make this easier.

Because accounts that are fraudulently taken over are usually emptied in hours, most victims are blissfully unaware.

Although identity fraud is relatively rare, and the protection offered by banks should mean that victims are never held responsible for losses, the time and stress involved are considerable. Sorting out the mess that such criminal activity might make of your credit file can also take expert help.

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