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Uk people stil not shredding enough

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Uk people stil not shredding enough

Written by marvin
Wednesday, 20 December 2006
Despite identity fraud costing the UK £1.7 Billion per year and the number of cases is increasing all the time, more people than ever before are putting their identities at risk by carelessly throwing away bank statements, utility bills and confidential data – this is seen as an open invitation by thieves. How many times have you returned from a shopping trip and thrown away your carrier bags with receipts in? How many times have you received an application for an unwanted credit card, ripped it in half and thrown it straight in the bin? In a press conference recently held at New Scotland Yard to help combat identity fraud, frightening new figures (available at officeprofiles) show that 48% of UK home owners throw away enough information in their bins for a criminal to steal their identity. In fact, the recent ‘Bin raiding survey’ commissioned by office supplies manufacturer Fellowes revealed that a staggering 97% of households in the UK throw at least one piece of information away that criminals can use to steal their identity – believe it or not this shows a staggering 26% increase on 2005 figures. Online office supplies shop Officeprofiles are backing the metropolitan police, Crimestoppers, Cifas and the Federation of Small Businesses by urging the British public to be more vigilant and help protect them from the UK’s fastest growing crime. Case study; Mr S.Holden, aged 34, had a frightening £22,000 stolen through fraudulent means from his business and personal bank accounts two years ago. Mr Holden runs his own training company for offices around the UK. Unfortunately Mr Holden had his wallet stolen from his jacket whilst attending one of his own training courses. Upon noticing the missing wallet Mr Holden immediately contacted his bank, but due to the fact that he did not answer all the security questions, the bank was unable to take any further action. Once he returned home, his wife informed him that someone from the council had called earlier that day claiming that Mr Holden was due a council tax rebate, Mrs Holden confirmed with the caller where to send the council tax check and also corrected their details as they had Mr Holden’s mother’s maiden name wrong!!!!! What infact happed was that the criminals had used the personal information from Mr Holden’s credit card, driving license and the conversation with his wife, to fake his ID and fraudulently take £4,000 from his business card (over the counter), £300 from his switch account, £14,000 from his Visa card, they spent £2,500 to buy a video camera and £1000 in a clothing shop. You can only imagine how stressful this saga was for Mr Holden, his family and his business – all because a chain of events took place that was orchestrated by organised criminal gangs that know what we put in our rubbish. The facts; 97% of household waste contains at least one or more items that would assist fraudsters 25% of people in the UK know someone that has been affected 79% of businesses sampled failed to make the correct security provisions with their waste 40% of businesses actually threw away sensitive CLIENT information 467 days; that’s how long it can take to discover you have been a victim of ID fraud 30% of businesses threw away details relating to employees home addresses Personal information such as your date of birth, address, mothers maiden name and passwords are now as valuable as money, these are often all the fraudster will need to gain your ID. Officeprofiles are an online only office supplies and stationery supplier able to offer advice on which type of shredder is best situated to protect your personal and business information from ID fraud. As well as the security benefits, shredders are a great way to save on your waste bills (particularly for businesses) as they condense and compact all paper wastage. Strip cut, cross cut and now fine cross cut shredders are available at officeprofiles from a variety of manufacturers like HSM, Rexel and Fellowes. In addition we stock many shredder peripherals like waste sacks, shredder oil and lubricants etc. For further information, brochures or advice on shredders and combating ID fraud please visit us at: www.officeprofiles.co.uk or call us on 0845 688 7750 officeprofiles – everything for your office # # # # # # Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these?

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