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.
Criminals commit identity theft by stealing your personal information. They can do this by taking documents from your rubbish, directly stealing documents from your home, off the internet or even more worrying, stealing your post directly. Once they have your personal details, they can obtain money in your name by opening bank accounts, credit cards and loans. One simple solution that many victims of identity theft never consider is using a mail scanning service.
A mail scanning service such as PAMS prevents mail getting in to the wrong hands. Whether you are moving house, going on a long holiday, leaving the country, temporarily changing address or even working offshore, you should seriously start considering the potential threat of identity theft.
Why are these groups at high risk from identity theft?
If your post is ever left unattended you are automatically putting yourself at risk. Going on holiday, working abroad and having a temporary address change all leave you at risk. With a build-up of post you are advertising to potential fraudsters the fact you are unavailable to receive your post.
Another common mistake many people make is not forwarding their mail when they move abroad (expats) or even when they move house. New residents can simply use all of your post to obtain credit cards, loans etc.
How can PAMS help?
PAMS is a professional mail scanning service that provides you with a PO Box address for you to redirect your mail to. Your mail is then sent to us, and a member of our team (all members of the PAMS team are checked by the Criminal Records Bureau) will open your mail, scan it into your personal account (which is highly secure). We email you when you have mail. Once you have received your email, we will securely destroy the original post (upon your permission), eliminating all risk of identity fraud.
PAMS mail scanning is a completely confidential service. Using a highly secure portal to host your account we can ensure that identity fraud is a thing of the past. So if you’re moving house, leaving the country or even going on a long holiday, maybe it’s time you started considering PAMS and prevent yourself becoming another identity fraud statistic.