Beware of emails purporting to be from HM Revenue and Customs. These emails are referring to your recent self assessment return submission implying that you are due a refund and are asking that you email back your bank account details so that the repayment may be made directly into your bank account. DO NOT SEND THIS OR ANY OTHER PERSONAL INFORMATION: HMRC DO NOT SEND EMAILS ASKING FOR PERSONAL DATA.
Identity theft has become a real problem over the past decade. With the majority of these crimes preventable, why are so many of us still falling victim to this crime? The most recent figure was published by the National Fraud Authority on 18 October 2010 and estimated that every year in the UK identity fraud costs more than £2.7billion and affects over 1.8million people.
Yesterday (1st October, 2012) former Holby City actor, Jeremy Edwards told BBC news that he had been victim of identity theft. Trying to highlight awareness of the problem Jeremy Edwards told breakfast news of the inconveniences and problems that the crime caused him personally. Recent research suggests that too few people in the UK destroy their documents or change their online passwords - a quarter have been affected by identity theft compared to a European average of 17%.
