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Millions of unsuspecting Britain's are leaving themselves open to identity fraud every day. The latest Identity Theft Report from CPP shows how identity theft continues to spiral out of control with the public still not being vigilant enough.

As identity fraud is moving into the realm of organised crime, it is not surprising to find that the number of identity theft fraud cases continues to triple year-on-year with 320% increase from September 2006 to September 2007. A total of 1,082 serious cases of identity theft have been reported to CPP and over 205,000 calls have been made into its identity protection advice line since January.

Account takeover crime (where a fraudster takes control of your bank account) remains the most popular form of identity fraud and surged to over 50% of all cases during the summer month. Fraudsters are also actively taking out unsecured loans (16%), opening bank accounts (14%), and taking out mobile phone contracts (12%) and credit cards (11%) in our names.

To demonstrate how easy it is to get hold of someone's personal information, CPP conducted an experiment in social engineering. Posing as market researchers from a fabricated theatre tickets company in central London, CPP managed to get hold of a list of important personal information from individuals including bank details without hesitation.

According to Danny Harrison, identity theft expert at CPP, "It is worrying that members of the public part with their personal information so easily, but this does not come as a surprise. The majority of individuals have still not realised that their personal information is the gateway to loans, bank accounts and all forms of credit."

"Another recent CPP survey also reported that two-thirds of identity theft victims confessed they didn't look after their personal information properly, while 15% admitted to not changing their behaviour afterwards in order to safeguard their personal information."

Most Popular Types of Identity Theft by Percentage in September 2007

Mobile Phone Contracts - 12 per cent of total CPP identity fraud cases
Catalogue / Store Cards - 2 per cent
Account takeover - 40 per cent
Credit Card - 11 per cent
Loan (unsecured) - 16 per cent
Bank Account opened - 14 per cent
Cloned Car Number Plate - 1 per cent
Mortgage taken out - 1 per cent

All information on this page relates to the CPP Identity Theft Report, 2007

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