Identity theft soars because ID forgery is easy — fraud service

Reports of identity theft grew 120% last year compared with the previous year, while overall fraud against retailers and banks increased 23% over the corresponding period, the South African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS) said yesterday.

The service, a body set up seven years ago under the auspices of the Banking Council to monitor and collate fraud information, said fraud last year cost more than R461m, which worked out to be more than R40000 per incident.

SAFPS CEO Patrick Cunningham yesterday said that criminals appeared to be targeting expensive items such as cars, fridges, stoves and furniture.

“What is of particular concern is the number of victims of identity theft filing reports to the SAFPS,” he said.

“Though the 120% increase can, in part, be attributed to greater awareness by the public with regard to identity theft, it would not account for such a large increase.”

About 515 victims of identity theft reported the thefts to the body in 2006, compared with 1139 last year. The total number of fraud reports, which include identity theft or impersonation and transaction-related fraud, rose from 9200 to 11300 over the same period.

“We are now in an electronic age where information is easily available. The 1400 cases of identity document duplication confirm our earlier concerns about the ease with which identity books can be altered, forged and used for fraudulent purposes in the country,” Cunningham said.

Older black people are hit hardest by this form of fraud.

“They are soft targets for robbery and they tend not to know what to do when their documents are taken. The fraud often leaves them with poor credit ratings; it's a huge trauma for them.”

The statistics mirrored trends abroad, where identity theft was experiencing a big rise, he said.

The United Nations held a conference in Italy last month to look at how to combat identity theft. “The Chinese and the Americans are particularly hard hit,” Cunningham said.

“The UK has had success with the debit card with a chip and PIN number.”

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