Interviews

Identity crime report

by Mark Rowe

Identity Crime: On your doorstep: a 24-page report is by the counter-fraud trade body CIFAS with Ordnance Survey, that analyses geographically the identity crimes recorded by organisations during 2012.

The report covers identity fraud (where a fraudster uses the personal details of victims to impersonate them to obtain new products) and account take-over (where the fraudster obtains the details required to hijack the running of an existing account). It also provides a greater understanding of the factors that influence such frauds, while highlighting some of the measures that can be taken to counteract them. Identity related crimes were accounting for nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) of all fraud recorded through CIFAS in 2012, with the same proportion continuing throughout 2013.

There has been a long held belief that those living in multi-occupancy dwellings are more likely to fall victim to identity fraud. Analysis presented in the report has helped to dispel this notion – and underlines that property is only one small aspect that might make an individual a potential target for an identity fraudster.

While the highest proportion of victims of identity crime will be found in larger urban centres, those living rurally are just as likely as city dwellers to be targeted by a fraudster looking to take over an account.

This is because the cloak of anonymity provided by a greater population helps those seeking to impersonate victims; this does mean, however, that fraudsters are more likely to have better knowledge of the area or accomplices within the vicinity.
Account take-overs are far more likely to be committed remotely, meaning the criminal does not always require a good geographical understanding of the victim’s location to commit their crime.
While most identity fraud is now perpetrated online, an address is one of the most important pieces of data used by any individual. This means that fraudsters, like consumers, will frequently have an ‘awareness space’: an area that they prefer to return to in order to commit their frauds.

Individuals, therefore, need to consider how their own personal circumstances might make them vulnerable to fraud, and to reduce the risks wherever possible.

This also highlights a challenge to organisations: to take a much more granular, even bespoke approach to counter fraud measures and to consider whether traditional approaches to identification verification should be reviewed.

The challenges

CIFAS says there are steps that can be taken. These include:

Individuals learning to protect their personal data in the same way as they would protect a valuable possession.
Individuals looking at the particulars of where they live, work or how they act online and recognising any vulnerabilities that exist in order to take preventative steps or alter behaviour.
Taking pre-emptive steps where a family member, friend or acquaintance falls victim to an identity crime in order to avoid falling victim to an associated attempt.
Organisations need to explore ways of tailoring advice to each customer; while some have good online safety habits, what can be done to reduce any risks?
Organisations that are not doing so already should explore how they might make use of new technologies (for example, biometric devices) and smarter use of the data that they already to collect: not only to identify their customers but also to prevent them falling victim to fraud.

Further preventative measures for individuals can be found online at – www.cifas.org.uk/avoid_being_a_victim.

Comment

Richard Hurley, CIFAS Communications Manager, says: “The findings of this report confirm that everyone is vulnerable to fraud and that anybody can fall victim. But, there are steps that we, as individuals, can take to help ourselves. In addition, organisations and the government have a responsibility to offer guidance, education and prevention in equal measure so that citizens and consumers can help minimise the personal and societal damage that fraud can cause.”

Related News

  • Interviews

    Bug bounty

    by Mark Rowe

    Ryan O’Leary, pictured, VP Threat Research Centre at web security product company WhiteHat Security, discusses why running a bug bounty programme has…

  • Interviews

    Cyber review

    by Mark Rowe

    The pandemic placed immense urgency on businesses to get all kinds of digital transformation projects live as quickly as possible, and that…

Newsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay on top of security news and events.

© 2024 Professional Security Magazine. All rights reserved.

Website by MSEC Marketing