Identity fraud can leave a victim facing loans, cards or catalogue accounts they never opened, and a damaged credit file. This guide summarises advice from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the government’s Stop! Think Fraud campaign and Cifas, the fraud prevention service, on spotting and dealing with identity theft in the UK. It is general information, not legal or financial advice.
Warning signs
The ICO lists signs that a person may be a victim of identity theft or fraud, including:
- mail from a bank or utility provider that stops arriving;
- unfamiliar items on a bank or credit card statement;
- being refused credit despite a good rating;
- letters from solicitors or debt collectors about debts that are not yours;
- a credit rating that falls although no payments were missed; and
- being told when applying for benefits that you are already claiming.
Identity theft happens when personal information such as a name, date of birth or addresses is stolen and used to impersonate someone, and the ICO notes it can happen whether the victim is alive or deceased.
First steps
Stop! Think Fraud advises acting quickly: contacting the bank and asking it to withhold pending transactions, changing passwords and PINs for bank, email and social media accounts, and reporting lost or stolen documents to the issuing body such as the Passport Office or DVLA. The ICO says unusual transactions should be reported to the bank, building society or card company, and that suspicious credit applications and stolen documents should be reported to the police, with a crime reference number requested. It names Report Fraud for England, Wales and Northern Ireland and Police Scotland for people who live in Scotland. If credit has been taken out in your name, Stop! Think Fraud says to tell the lender immediately. The guide to liability when someone else uses your credit account covers a related situation.
Checking and correcting your credit file
Stop! Think Fraud recommends checking the credit report with Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, because it shows credit applications made in your name; it says a credit check is free and does not affect the credit score. The ICO says anyone can request a copy of the information about their financial standing from a credit reference agency free of charge, by phone or in writing, and that the agency should reply within one month, or up to three months in certain circumstances if it explains why. The ICO adds that nobody needs to join a monthly subscription service for this and that the phrase to look for on agency websites is “statutory report”.
Stop! Think Fraud says mismatches should be reported to the agencies, which alert the lender; the lender investigates and approves removal of the application, a process that can take several weeks. The ICO says it cannot investigate fraud or decide whether an account was opened fraudulently, but it may look at a complaint where a lender has acknowledged an account was fraudulently operated yet refuses to remove the entries, and it notes that each agency has its own Victim of Fraud teams. Many searches in a short time can imply difficulty getting credit, so the fraud should be reported to the organisations concerned. More on disputing entries is in the guide to errors on your credit file.
Extra protection on the credit file
Stop! Think Fraud describes two options for adding a layer of security: a fraud alert, which means lenders must run extra identity checks and which carries a cost through the credit reference agencies, and a Notice of Correction password, which it says can be added free and which a lender must ask for before lending. Separately, the ICO describes a notice of correction as a statement the individual can add to a disputed entry, which anyone viewing the entry will see and which should be considered if they apply for credit.
Cifas Protective Registration
Cifas says that for £30 for two years its Protective Registration service places a warning flag against a person’s name and details in its National Fraud Database. Organisations that use Cifas data then carry out extra checks when those details are used to apply for products or services. Cifas states that the marker does not affect a credit score and is a fraud prevention measure, not insurance against fraud losses. Genuine applications can take slightly longer while checks run. Applications are online only, the registration lasts 24 months unless removal is requested, and Cifas says no email is sent when it expires. Its terms state that it is not a credit monitoring service and does not guarantee prevention of all fraud. It does not cover transactions on products that are already running. The ICO and Stop! Think Fraud both point to the service, although Stop! Think Fraud quotes a different price, so Cifas’s own figure is the one to check.
FAQs
Can the ICO decide whether an account was opened fraudulently?
No. The ICO says fraud is outside its remit and it cannot decide whether an account was opened or operated fraudulently, although it may look at complaints about entries a lender admits are fraudulent.
Does Protective Registration stop all fraud?
No. Cifas says it does not guarantee prevention of all fraud or identity theft and is not a credit monitoring service.
Is a credit check free to carry out?
Stop! Think Fraud says a credit check is free and does not affect the credit score, and the ICO says a statutory credit report is free of charge.
The bottom line
When credit appears in your name that you did not take out, the practical sequence is to tell the bank and the lender, report to the police or Report Fraud and obtain a crime reference number, request statutory credit reports from the three agencies, ask for fraudulent entries to be removed and consider Cifas Protective Registration. The ICO cannot rule on fraud itself but may help where a lender accepts fraud yet leaves the entry in place. Acting quickly shortens the clean-up. This is general information, not legal or financial advice.
Sources
- Identity theft (ico.org.uk)
- Credit (ico.org.uk)
- What to do if your identity has been stolen (stopthinkfraud.campaign.gov.uk)
- Protective Registration and Protective Registration Terms and Conditions (cifas.org.uk)