UK Surfers Increasingly Suffer From Online ID Fraud

According to Experian, a credit information body, computer users are increasingly being victimized through phishing scams in spite of strong awareness about the problem. About 6,000 victims of identity theft contacted the Experian staff seeking help in 2007, a 66% more than in 2006, as reported by Scotsman on June 7, 2008.

Experian disclosed that people running their own firms and company directors were more probable victims, while people of age between 26 and 45 years and giving their homes on rent were also vulnerable. Additionally, people earning above £50,000 per annum had almost threefold chances of falling victim to phishing scams.

The Experian Officials further disclosed that ID fraud through phishing e-mails is the worst in London with city residents are twice likely to be victims compared with others in Britain. The most frequently attacked spots in London are the wealthier parts, notably Richmond, Kensington, Wimbledon, Chelsea's King's Road, and Putney. In the regions of southeast, Guilford, St Albans Woking and Windsor are also significant phishing targets.

Helen Lord, Director of Fraud and Compliance at Experian, said that the dramatic increase has observed in ID fraud during the past few years happened simultaneously with the large-scale activities of organized crime gangs, as reported by Scotsman on June 7, 2008.

Meanwhile, the maximum cases of identity fraud has been through mail with 36% of the total fraud taking place by using forwarding mail address, and 30% using present mail address. This happens when the perpetrator diverts the victim's mail to a postal address he/she uses. Other common types of scam are card cloning and the crafty phishing e-mails that ask for personal identity information.

Phishing is popularly used to send fraudulent e-mails to potential victims that pose to be from their financial institutions, usually the bank, directing users to follow an embedded link pointing to a fake Website of the bank and to log in by entering their password.

Thus, Security Experts at Experian informed that banks never contact their customers via e-mail or over phone to ask for personal account details. So, if anyone claiming to represent the bank, the user should check the person's number before calling him back.

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» SPAMfighter News - 6/23/2008