Theft of Personal Information from Your Last Address

Sometimes people forget to notify every company of a change of address when they move house.  Without a mail redirection from the Post Office, mail continues to be delivered to the old address.  This could range from insurance companies, mobile phone companies, pension companies and even junk mail, particularly those pre-approved offers of credit.

Identity thieves can respond to these pre-approved offers to obtain cards in your name and use other mail addressed to you as fake id.

Theft from Last Address Advice

• Check your credit files regularly to make sure that there are no active accounts still registered at your old address and no new ones opened
• Put a mail redirection in place with the Post Office for at least one full year.  As you receive your redirected mail, advise the sender of your new address

Theft of Personal Information from Someone Close to You

It is thought that almost half of identity theft frauds are committed by people who know their victims.  This could be at home, at work or socially.

Advice

• Be careful with your cards and PIN numbers, passport and birth certificate.  Be especially careful with your personal information such as date and place of birth and your mother’s maiden name
• Do not use the same passwords for all of your accounts – when one is compromised, all are
• After a relationship breakdown or divorce or even a change of job, change all your passwords and PIN numbers

Bin Bag Theft

Identity theft criminals sift through rubbish to find personal information and letters/old bills that can be used to help authenticate a fake identity.  Sadly, even in these days of recycling, most of us have no idea where are recycled rubbish ends up.

Be careful with old till-roll receipts.  Whilst only 4 digits of your card are displayed, different retailers don’t always display the same 4 digits on their receipts.  A careful thief may be able to reconstruct your card number by inspecting these.

Bin Bag Theft Advice

• Shred all confidential letters and statements before putting them in the recycling bin.  Use a cross-cut shredder rather than a straight cut – it’s harder to reconstruct the document
• Alternatively, if no shredder is available tear up your documents and place the pieces in different bins, or burn them – you can even use your paper waste to make logs to burn on a fire