The Irish Institute of Credit Management News Details

UK Identity fraud jumps by a third The recession has sparked a jump in financial fraud, with identity fraud rocketing by almost a third, according to figures Released by CIFSA – the UK’s Fraud Prevention Service. CIFAS said that there has been a nine per cent increase in the overall level of fraud, with 234,253 cases of fraud identified last year. CIFAS said that fraudsters have turned to new tactics after the overall amount of lending taking place last year - discouraging many to forge documents or lie to obtain products or services. This has led to a 25 per cent reduction in application fraud, but it has meant that they have returned to stealing the identities of others in order to gain products and services. Peter Hurst, chief executive of CIFAS, said: "It is well-known that a rise in fraud goes hand in hand with a recession. Fraudsters adapt their methods in response to changes in the economy, finding and exploiting any area of weakness." There were over 25,000 more fraud victims in 2009 than the year before. 85,000 were victims of impersonation, and 24,000 suffered their accounts being hijacked by fraudsters. There was also a 16 per cent jump in facility takeover fraud in 2009 from the year before. Account takeover has been made easier for fraudsters by the prevalence of ‘phishing’ emails which are sent by fraudsters to kook as though they come from a bank or credit card company asking for personal details, which are then used to plunder the victim’s accounts. And while insurance fraud has been difficult to prove, the 55 per cent increase in cases filed by CIFAS members during 2009 indicates that claimants are becoming even more dishonest – including claims for staged or completely fictitious events than inflated claims for damage and losses actually incurred. Source http://www.credittoday.co.uk/