Identity Theft Check

With the credit crunch still with us and money being tight, identity theft is on the increase; however there are a few things to keep in mind to help prevent your identity being stolen.
- Bank statements and general utility bills:
These are a identity thief’s dream as they contain pretty much all the information such as your bank number, sort code, address and even your national insurance number , which can all be used to apply for a credit card in your name.

- Cash Machines:
Recently there have been allot of cases of bank card cloning due to some kind of device being attached to the ATM machine that will clone your card and pin number. In most cases these can be spotted pretty Easley as there will be a large card aperture or something unusual about the card slot. In some cases reported, the ATM machine front face has been completely replaced with a false one, and only found to be false when the entire ATM front fell off.

- Mobile Phones:
As technology gets more and more advanced, we tent to place allot of our personal identifiable information into our mobile phones which an identity thief would love to get their hands on. It’s surprising how many people i have spoken too do not apply a password to their phone to make it more secure, and then one day you will probably leave it on the bus or it will fall out of your pocket and if it’s a good quality phone, the chances are you will never see it again. But as technology moves on further, to the point where we are paying for things using our mobile, it starts to make you think about who may want to steel it or where we leave it. There have already been trial’s to test the possibility of mobiles being used as payment devices, such as Barclays bank had a trial on the London underground last year, where you could use the phone to pay for travel across London, which will completely deplete the need for the currently used Oyster card.