Industry News Home More stories like this... RSS Feed

ID theft crooks affected by credit crunch

The credit crunch is bad news for a lot of people including cyber crooks, it would appear.

According to an all Party Parliamentary Group on Identity Fraud report released by MPs, the ongoing crisis is making it harder for everyone including ID theft crooks that have been forced to change tactics to survive.

The report states that the crooks are now focusing on existing bank and credit card accounts through various techniques including phishing scams as its now difficult to commit ID fraud due to tighter rules.

"There is no longer a guarantee that they will get credit by applying assuming another person's identity, so they are instead tapping into accounts which already exist," said the report.

And ID fraud will continue being a concern, the group warned, because it is "a fast moving and constantly evolving problem" which gets new life through internet development.

This opens several new; "sophisticated routes for fraudsters to access personal information" that lead to an annual loss of £1.7 billion to the UK economy, according to government estimates.

PC Tools software protects you and your family against identity theft. Visit www.pctools.com to upgrade your protection