Issue 157

Identity Theft: A closer inspection

08th October 2007

Nick Morgan spent this year's Freshers' Fayre trying to lure unsuspecting students into giving up their personal information by running a phoney competition offering festival and gig tickets.

His fake company aptly named "Duplicitas" asked for a range of information including names and addresses, National Insurance numbers and even managed to gain a copy of their signatures.

Staggeringly nearly 100 students signed up, who will shortly be receiving a business card in the post telling them that they have been conned and giving them information as to how to find out more about identity theft.

The campaign has gone ahead with the full support of the local police. Detective Inspector Andy Hughes from South Wales police, Swansea said, "We had a team of thieves in Swansea that targeted green bags on recycling day looking for letters to steal identities. Sadly this is becoming a more common occurrence. You can purchase a shredder now for a few pounds.

"Swansea is a fantastic, safe City to come and study but help us to prevent you becoming a victim of crime." Nick Morgan has organised this campaign as part of his job as Welfare Officer, to give support and to help advise students.

The questionnaire that students were asked to fill in was developed by the Students' Union's research department and Nick himself, who wanted to see just how much information that he could get out of people.

Astonishingly students were more than willing to give away information not only about themselves, but also giving up names and addresses of their next of kin! Clearly this not only endangers them, but also, unwittingly, a close relative or friend.

Waterfront spoke to Nick Morgan about the campaign. "We wanted to do something new," said Nick. "Freshers have to grow up quickly and they, along with other students, tend to be very relaxed about their personal information."

You might not think that your address or phone number is that important in terms of protecting your identity, yet having someone posing that information without your knowledge can be very dangerous and damaging.

It is frighteningly easy for this sort of information to be used in an illegal manner, putting you and your financial future at great risk.

The idea of this campaign was to go for the shock tactic, much like if you were to discover that you had been a victim of identity theft. Nick Morgan told us that he was unsurprised by the uptake - "People are quite relaxed and naïve in an atmosphere like the freshers' fayre."

There are several reasons why students and young people in particular are prime targets for identity theft. You might think that it is down to our apparent lax attitude towards looking after our personal information, but a more important fact is that we have very limited credit histories and tend to be very transient.

Many believe that our lack of caution whilst using social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, also contributes to the high number of identity thefts amongst students. All of these contributing factors make it incredibly easy for a fraudster to set up an account in your name or use your details to their advantage.

Identity fraud can affect you both directly and indirectly. You're most likely to be affected by someone opening a credit card or even getting a loan in your name, which obviously could have some serious repercussions to your credit history, preventing you from opening further accounts or even getting a mortgage in the future.

More worryingly your details can be used to get fraudulent documents like passports and driving licences, allowing someone to travel illegally in your name. Identity theft is a crime that is constantly evolving especially on the internet, where you are most likely to be targeted.

Fraudsters have been developing complicated methods of using the internet to get information out of you by using a system called phishing. By using social engineering techniques they can also target you through email or instant messenger by posing as a legitimate company and can range from popular online companies like eBay through to your own high street bank.

The contents of the email or message will usually ask you for sensitive and private information like passwords, account details and your address - giving these away is obviously risky and highly dangerous.

Pharming is another hazard to face on the internet, where a hacker can redirect a website's traffic to another (bogus) site. Here you could be innocently typing in your card details to pay for something, when in reality you're typing information into an illegitimate site.

There are various signs that could indicate that you are a victim of identity theft, the most important point is to be vigil. Keep an eye on your statements for things that you don't recognise and for bills or invoices that appear to be for goods that you haven't received. If you are refused credit cards/loans due to a poor credit history, which you are unaware of, then this may also be a sign that all is not right.

Furthermore, if you start to receive letters to your address that aren't for anyone in your household, then it could be an indication that someone is using your address for alternative unwanted purposes.

Although all of this may seem a little overwhelming, it really isn't anything to lose any sleep over! There are a few things you can do if you suspect that you have been a victim of identity crime. One of the easiest of which is to attain a copy of your personal credit file from a credit reference agency. These cost from as little as £2 and will help you to identify any entries in your history that you do not recognise.

If you think that you have become a victim of identity theft then the key is to act quickly, advice is readily available on campus at the advice centre or alternatively you could check out www.identitytheft.org.uk.

There are services available to enable you to protect yourself; you could contact the CIFAS, the UK's fraud prevention service, to apply for protective registration if you are very concerned. Once registered extra checks will be carried out whenever anyone, including yourself, applies for a financial service using your address; thus preventing a possible fraud.

You will however have to pay for this service. For the average student though this service shouldn't be necessary, all you really need to do is be sensible and look after your personal information. As Nick Morgan advises, the most important things for you to do are to make sure that, "You secure all of your personal information and make sure that you destroy everything."

The most important thing is common sense; make sure that you report any stolen documents or credit/debit cards to the organisation concerned, which should prevent them from being used. Provided you take reasonable precautions you shouldn't have anything to worry about. Preventative measures are of course the best way to protect yourself; check out our top ten tips for preventing your identity from being stolen.

Nick Morgan's campaign has bought to light just how easy it is to unwittingly give away your personal information. Hopefully it will go some way to help students realise the value and importance of their personal information If you would like to know more details about the risks of identity theft then please check out: duplicitas.ibusinessdot.com, or for more advice please visit Welfare Officer Nick Morgan or the advice centre, situated on the ground floor of Fulton House.

Dawn Lewis