NIDFPW Issues Tips to Prevent Identity Fraud

Identity fraud is perhaps one of the fastest growing crimes that affect individuals and businesses alike. However, in spite of being aware of the concept of identify fraud, there didn't appear to be an urgent initiative either on the part of consumers or businesses to tackle this growing menace.

In a report, quantitative research was carried out with 2002 British adults aged 18+ between September 16^th and 18^th, 2011, as part of an online consumer omnibus survey.

Commissioned by Fellowes and carried out by Dynamic Markets Limited, the research shows that consumers confidence has reached the nadir with almost 96 percent of people concerned believing that organizations are not being responsible about their data.

It was stated that with only 52 percent of companies having some sort of a policy in place, the employees' fears about their identities being at risk doesn't appear to be misplaced. About 50 percent employees felt that the company computers could be targeted to obtain sensitive information, 42 percent believed that such information could be found in company bins.

What appeared to be causing greater concern was that almost 57 percent of employees felt that personal information might be abused by fellow employees themselves.

Further, such risks were only increased with the increase in remote working outside the office. Fellowes found that employees working from non-office locations didn't take proper care to destroy confidential information

Andrea Davis, president of Fellowes Europe noted there was no room for complacency while dealing with identity fraud and document safety polices needed to extend to all areas of work, wherever that work may take place.

Therefore, once again NIDFPW, in conjunction with partners from the public and private sector, has been contributing their resources and experiences to help U.K. businesses to protect themselves from identity fraud.

In related news, to make Internet users more aware about online threats, Google (News - Alert) and The Citizens Advice Bureau are launching a campaign. In a recent press release, ID fraud expert Equifax announced that it is supporting the campaign, and will spread awareness about internet passwords and scam emails. As an integral part of the campaign, Equifax will urge people to review their own internet activity and protection of passwords.