Experian, the global information services company, has provided a new insight into the growth of identity fraud and the emerging trends with the publication of its latest Experian Victims of Fraud Dossier.
The rate at which new identity fraud victims are contacting Experian has risen rapidly. More than 6,000 victims sought help from Experians victims of fraud team during 2007, compared to just over 3,500 in 2006. This represents a 66% increase in identity fraud activity reported to Experian.
With detailed data from more than 10,000 identity fraud cases available for analysis Experian has been able to produce its most accurate identity fraud propensity model ever. As a result, Experian has determined with even greater accuracy the types of people most likely to fall victim to identity fraud and has also pinpointed the UKs identity fraud hotspots those areas that contain the highest proportion of the most at-risk residents.
London remains the identity fraud capital of the UK. Its residents are on average almost twice as likely as to fall victim to identity fraud compared to people living in the rest of the UK. Kensington is the Capitals identity fraud hotspot, with its residents three-and-a-half times more likely to fall victim compared to the UK average. Residents of Richmond-upon-Thames, Putney, Wimbledon and the Kings Road area in Chelsea are also amongst those at the highest risk of identity fraud.
Further analysis at a postal sector level reveals a number of identity fraud enclaves, where residents are at a particularly high risk of falling foul of fraudsters. Residents living in the SW17 6 postal sector, which centres on College Gardens in Tooting, south London, need to be most wary of identity fraud. Residents living in this postal sector are almost fives times more likely than the UK average to become a victim of identity fraud.
Outside of London, there are small pockets of high-risk areas across the country, where the risk of identity fraud exceeds four times the national average. These include the CB23 5 postal sector, encompassing Great Cambourne near Cambridge, Far Cotton, Northampton) and TS17 5 (Ingleby Barwick, Stockton-on-Tees).
Experians analysis reveals that the typical identity fraud victim will be aged between 26 and 45. These people are amongst the highest income earners and will also be homeowners. Those earning more than 50,000 a year are almost three times more likely than the UK average to fall victim to identity fraudsters.
Using Experians classification system, Corporate Top Dogs, those people at the pinnacle of their careers, either at director level or running their own businesses, are the most at-risk consumer type, being almost three times more likely to fall victim. The Smart Money group, which is also made up of highly successful and well-paid directors of large companies or of their own businesses, is also at significant risk, being two-and-a-half times more likely to fall victim.
While wealth and position can single out certain types of people for being targeted, those renting either privately or from local authorities are also at high risk of identify fraud. Those living in rented accommodation are more likely to share mail boxes and tend to move house more frequently than homeowners, providing more opportunities for fraudsters to misuse credit histories that have not been updated.
The Limited Livelihoods type, which is made up of young singles and home-sharers who live in flats rented predominantly from local councils or housing associations, are almost twice as likely to become identity fraud victims. At the other end of the wealth scale, the Up and Coming Elite: young, single, wealthy people who rent high-value flats in fashionable areas of major metropolitan cities such as London or Edinburgh are also more than twice as likely to become victims of identity fraud.
Analysis of fraud first reported to Experian in the second half of 2007 reveals that forwarding address fraud continues to grow and is now the most commonly perpetrated method, representing 36% of identity fraud. This type of fraud is where a fraudster redirects the victims post to a drop address that they then visit to collect mail, Present address fraud, previously the most common method, declined to 30%.
“The dramatic increases in identity fraud we have witnessed over the last few years have coincided with the increasing involvement of organised criminals in this space. The rate of identity fraud growth is worrying. Although some people are statistically more likely than others to become a victim, we should all be concerned. We are all potential victims,” says Helen Lord, director of Fraud and Compliance, Experian.
“There is no room for complacency. We all need to take active steps to protect ourselves against identity theft and everyone should regularly check their credit report using an online monitoring service like CreditExpert.co.uk. Doing this enables you to quickly spot any unfamiliar activity on your credit report, such as a fraudulent loan application, and to seek assistance from Experian so that we can help you to sort it out,” adds Jim Hodgkins, managing director, CreditExpert.co.uk from Experian.