Consumers Could Benefit From Insurance Against Identity Theft

Sainsbury’s Bank has carried out a study that shows the alarming rise in identify theft in Britain over the years, which helps to reflect the importance of taking out identity theft insurance cover, a product that the bank has recently launched.

According to the data released by Sainsbury’s Bank over four million people in Britain have been victims of identity theft. The research was performed using a test group of a thousand subjects, out of which nine percent claimed to have been victims of this crime.

Six percent of those victims claim to have lost over £10,000 as a result of the identity theft, with the average cost to the victim standing at just over three thousand pounds. The majority of cases seemed to fall in the London and the South East areas. According to the fraud prevention service in the UK, CIFAS, since 1999 cases of identity theft have risen by five hundred percent.

A credit card manager from Sainsbury’s Bank stated: "Identity theft is a very serious problem and one that is getting much worse, so we all need to take greater care in protecting ourselves." He added: "This could involve having a policy in place to protect against this crime, but it should also involve taking steps to reduce the chances of ID thieves being able to steal your personal details. Research shows that around three-quarters of household waste contains at least one item which could assist identity fraudsters."

Sainsbury’s has recently launched its own identity theft insurance cover in a bid to help consumers in the UK to protect themselves against some of the losses that can be incurred as a result of this criminal activity. As part of the insurance consumers will have regular credit checks carried out on their credit files to try and pick up on any untoward activity.

Alisdair Milton
4th December 2006

More Information:

• Identity Theft
  Identity theft is a major issue in the UK, and with good reason. It has been estimated that it can take up to sixty hours of work to recover a stolen identity, and in the worst cases, cost up to £8000 to put right. But what can be dome to prevent this?
• ‘Vishing’ – A New Type Of Credit Card Fraud
  With the full integration of Chip and PIN technology in 2005, credit card fraudsters now have to look for ever more ingenious ways to try and defraud UK credit cardholders. Topping this list is a very ingenious and sophisticated telephone scam that fraudsters are using to obtain the credit details of cardholders – ‘vishing’.
  

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