Identity theft at all-time high: British officials
July 24th, 2012 - 11:11 pm ICT by IANSLondon, July 24 (IANS) Identity theft now accounts for two-thirds of all frauds, according to Britain’s fraud prevention service.
According to the latest figures released by CIFAS - the country’s Fraud Prevention Service, identity theft is at unprecedented levels, The Telegraph reported.
The abuse of identity details, such as dates of birth, postcodes and internet logins, now accounts for two thirds of all frauds.
Figures from the “Fraudscape Bulletin 2012″ published Tuesday by CIFAS show that misuse of identity details forms 65 percent of all reported fraud.
Earlier this month, it was announced one million Android Forum users’ accounts and 450,000 Yahoo Voice usernames and passwords had been stolen.
Consumer research commissioned by Experian CreditExpert last month found that the average person has 26 different online accounts. Worryingly, 24 percent of users use the same password for most profiles, according to the newspaper.
As Peter Turner, at Experian Consumer Services warned: “Using a different password for each account will minimise risks, but if password information is stolen from a website, all accounts using the same details will be compromised.”
- Facebook stops 600,000 hacking attempts daily - Oct 29, 2011
- Now, access your online accounts at the touch of a fingertip - Dec 18, 2010
- 'Nightmare scenario' as huge data theft hits 70 m Sony PlayStation users - Apr 27, 2011
- Yahoo hackers leak passwords - Jul 13, 2012
- Beware of Valentine's spam, warns IT security firm - Feb 13, 2012
- Attack on Gawker enables spammers to take over Twitter accounts - Dec 14, 2010
- The Most Commonly Used Passwords Revealed - Dec 21, 2010
- Immobile biometrics don't show promise when it comes to security - Apr 24, 2010
- China to curb online phishing - Dec 30, 2011
- Indian BPOs selling Britons' bank data for pennies? - Aug 02, 2011
- 46pc Brits use same password for every website - Jan 02, 2010
- Software combo that turns computers impregnable - Mar 22, 2012
- How to keep your password safe from data hackers, cyber thieves - Apr 14, 2009
- Thousands of Facebook users fall for an email scam - Mar 20, 2010
- 25 Russians charged in US banking fraud - Oct 02, 2010
Tags: average person, british officials, dates of birth, forum users, fraud prevention, frauds, identity theft, logins, london, one million, peter turner, postcodes, prevention service, profiles, telegraph, two thirds, unprecedented levels, usernames and passwords, yahoo