Essentially Home Loans Weblog

Consumers are being warned to watch out for identity theft. Some ways a consumer can protect themselves is to keep an eye on their consumer credit information through services like Equifax.

There are several indicators that can alert a consumer to a possible identity theft, unexplained increases in credit card, store card, and overdraft limits, unexpected default penalty fees, and in extreme cases, a personal loan, a secured loan against your home, and in extreme cases, the sale of your home.

The best way to avoid identity theft is to protect your consumer credit information. This includes reporting stolen or lost wallets, credit cards, and even something as insignificant as a student card.  Thieves use this information to start a search, that gives them more and more information. Eventually, they have enough information to control your financial circumstances, even taking out loans, or selling your home.

There are 600,000 cases of identity theft in the UK every year.  However, the problem is growing because stealing someone’s identity is still not an offence under UK law.

These numbers do not include the incidences of online fraud, which has increased 8,000 per cent, and includes fake internet banking scams, phishing, and fake emails from banks and financial institutions asking for different aspects of your consumer credit information.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) told peers it is “very concerned” about the growth in “phishing”. Phishing, which involves using fake websites to trick people into revealing their bank account numbers, is hard to detect, and difficult to prosecute.

The amount of cash stolen in the first half of 2006 was £23.2m, and was expected to rise to £22.5m in the second half of the year.