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identity theft and fraud >> what is identity theft?
What is Identity Theft?
Identity theft, identity fraud or ID theft occurs when somebody steals your name and other personal information for fraudulent purposes. Identity theft is a criminal offence.
Your identity and personal information are valuable. Criminals gain access to your personal details in a number of ways, such as:
- Over the Internet via insecure websites and malware programs. Find out more about this on Free Anti Virus Software .org.uk
- Phishing - whereby a fraudster sends misleading emails requesting personal and financial details.
- Obtaining personal documents by raiding through your rubbish.
- Wrongly sent postal mail or mail that is not re-directed on to you when you move house.
- Stealing or finding your passport, driving license, store cards, credit cards etc.
Once a criminal has enough personal details about you they can use them to open bank accounts, get credit cards, loans, state benefits and documents such as passports and driving licenses in your name.
If the criminal goes on to miss payments or overspends, they will be affecting your credit record which may make it very difficult for you to obtain credit in the future. Worse still, banks and creditors may start chasing you for the money that is owed to them by the fraudster.
It has also been known for criminals to steal identities of people who have passed away. This causes a great deal of grief and stress for the families of the victims who battle to try to clear their loved one's name.
The latest Home Office study estimate is that identity fraud costs the UK economy 1.7 billion.
To prevent becoming a victim of ID fraud read our guide on ID Theft Prevention.
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