Autumn 2011 | p2p Magaz i ne |
25
Beat identity fraud
SHREDDERS
Fraudsters looking to steal someone’s
identity will attempt to obtain
sensitive personal details any way
possible. It’s a fact that they pay
people to go through the rubbish we
throw out, looking for bank and credit
card statements, pre-approved credit
offers, and tax information.
This everyday information is carelessly
discarded and carries valuable personal
information that can be gathered
together to steal an identity.
Stop-Id fraud
The seventh NIDFPW (National Identity
Fraud PreventionWeek) (www.stop-
idfraud.co.uk), a campaign established to
warn consumers and businesses of the
dangers of identity fraud at home and
at work, takes place in October. NIDFPW
brings together partners from both the
private and public sector, contributing a
wealth of experience and resources to
companies, their employees, customers,
suppliers and consumers, who are facing
the threat of identity fraud.
Research carried out by Fellowes
(www.fellowes.com) for the 2010
campaign, revealed that only seven per
cent of British people are completely
confdent that the organisations they
deal with treat data responsibly. Yet,
despite being aware of the dangers,
British individuals and businesses still
aren’t taking steps against identity fraud.
Specifcally, the research found that only
56 per cent of British organisations have
a comprehensive policy to help protect
people’s identities and 40 per cent of
British employees believe that employees’
and customers’ identities could be
obtained from company bins – this is one
of the highest fgures in Europe.
Protect your identity
Deploying shredders in key locations
around the business and at home is an
effective destruction strategy. And it’s not
just paper that poses a risk. Destroying
information, whether that’s paper
documents, credit and store cards, CDs,
DVDs or even hard drives, by shredding;
is one of the easiest ways to protect
your identity. Several manufacturers have
models which safely destroy other media
as well as shredding paper.
Duplo International, the UK
distributor for IDEAL
shredders, offers
a vast range of
shredders with
security levels
from DIN level
1 through to
Level 6 – the
higher the
www.binfo.co.uk
level, the smaller the shredded particles.
The IDEAL 0101 HDP hard drive
punch, which is about the size of a
standard offce shredder, is an invaluable
business tool. At the push of a button, a
hole is punched through the hard drives
from discarded PCs, laptops, servers,
printers or copying machines, which
pose a substantial risk to data security,
rendering them unusable. www.ideal-uk.
co.uk
HSM (www.hsm-online.de) has a large
family of various document shredders,
each one precisely tailored to a specifc
requirement and, like IDEAL, it also
offers digital shredders, for a secure and
convenient method of erasing hard disks.
continued...
As scammers get bolder
and their methods become
more sophisticated, making
them harder to detect,
identity fraud remains a big
issue. In 2010, over 102,500
cases of identity fraud
(where fraudsters use false
identities or impersonate
victims) were recorded
by CIFAS – the UK's Fraud
Prevention Service. In fact,
identity frauds comprised
nearly 50 per cent of all
frauds recorded by CIFAS
Members last year.
Level 6 particles
40% of British
employees
believe that
employees’
& customers’
identities could
be obtained
from company
bins