Experian warns of 'Industrialisation of Identity Fraud'

Bangalore, Apr 16 (UNI) There was an upward trend in identity fraud and the financial sectors held the key to foil the fraudsters who had now become e-enabled, IT savvy and anti-social networked, a new research has revealed.

Experian, a global information solutions provider, today announced the results of research into worldwide identity fraud trends and warned of the escalating involvement of organised criminal gangs operating global identity fraud rings.

The rate at which new identity fraud victims were contacting Experian continued to grow. 2,124 victims contacted the Victims of Fraud Service of the company for the first time in the second half of 2006, a 69 per cent increase over the same period in 2005, a company release said.

The experiences of these victims indicated that identity fraudsters were now most likely to use a victim's current address when committing a fraud. 'Present address' fraud accounted for almost half (45 per cent) of cases, overtaking 'previous address' fraud for the first time as fraudsters move from committing opportunistic offences towards premeditating and implementing sophisticated attacks against a wider range of higher value and easy target victims, the study said.

Mail order companies were by far the hardest hit in terms of fraud volumes, accounting for approximately 60 per cent of total cases. In terms of financial value, the biggest losses were suffered by credit and store card issuers. Credit and store card issuers accounted for approximately 28 per cent of the total financial losses, at an average cost per case of 1,548 Pounds, while loan providers suffered 19 per cent of total losses, at an average cost per case 4,797 Pounds. With an average cost per case of 229 pounds, mail order companies suffered 15 percent of total financial losses.

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