Identity Theft

Posted on 3 Jan 2006 at 16:59

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Checking your records with CIFAS will alert you if someone has tried or is trying to steal your identity. When a CIFAS member, such as a credit card company, detects a suspected fraud it will place a warning against the name and address of the applicant. If someone is trying to apply for a credit card in your name, the warning will appear on your record. CIFAS is at pains to point out that this is not an accusation that you are a fraudster, just that someone has tried to use your details.

If there is a warning next to your name, other companies that have access to the database will take extra precautions when handling applications from that person. The warning will also affect an address. This is why, if you live in rented properties, you may occasionally find it tricky to get a credit card. If your address has a warning against it, perhaps because of a fraudster who has either lived there before or who has simply used the address in his schemes, you may experience delays in your applications.

You can find out if there is a warning by exercising your rights under the Data Protection Act, which allows you to seek access to any data held by CIFAS. A request costs up to £10. Additionally, you are allowed to demand a copy of your credit file. This costs just £2. According to CIFAS, "where a CIFAS-participating agency is also a credit reference agency, this credit file includes all the data held by the credit reference agency about the individual and any CIFAS data". You can contact CIFAS at www.cifas.org.uk.

If you keep being declined credit, it may simply be because your credit rating is not good enough. In our experience that is more likely to mean that you've never been in debt than anything else. CIFAS clearly states that its members "are not allowed to refuse applications simply because a CIFAS warning is present".

Deceased fraud

Despite the apparent ease with which fraudsters can assume the identities of the dead, you can help protect the identity of your deceased relatives. More importantly, protecting them may also protect surviving but vulnerable partners. CIFAS told us of one woman who found that her dead husband's identity was stolen at least 13 times. In another case, relatives received a bill for a debt in the name of a deceased individual. They paid up, before discovering that the debt did not actually belong to their family.

Relatives or executors of the deceased can place an entry in the CIFAS Protective Registration. This includes the deceased person's address. According to CIFAS, "the service protects the identities registered with it by flagging to over 240 CIFAS member companies (virtually the whole financial services industry) that the identity is at risk of being misused".

To do this you need to call 08700 102091 and pay a fee of £11.75 including VAT. You'll also need a copy of the death certificate.

Protective registration

If your personal details have been stolen you can place a warning against your own address to alert financial companies that a fraudster could be about to impersonate you. That way, when any would-be thief tries to order a card in your name, they should find it more difficult to conclude the deal.

To do this, contact the fraud prevention and credit reference agency Equifax on 08700 100583 or at www.equifax.co.uk. You'll need your name, address, date of birth, the names of other people living at your house, their dates of birth, home and work telephone numbers, a crime reference number (if you were mugged or burgled) and a reason for placing the warning.