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Criminals use Companies House data to target directors

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15th Jun 2017
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Company directors are one of the most at-risk groups for identity fraud, with criminals using data pulled from Companies House and social media to impersonate them, a new report has found.

The study from Cifas, the UK’s leading fraud prevention service, and LexisNexis found that directors were nearly twice as likely as other members of the public to be victims of identity theft.

Nearly 19% of identity fraud victims are company directors, despite company directors comprising less than 9% of the UK’s population.

Publicly available data

One of the reasons given by the report is that fraudsters use publicly available data, including listings on Companies House, as a starting point and then obtain further information in order to successfully commit the fraud.

Commenting on the findings Lady Barbara Judge, Chairman of Cifas, said: “There will always be more publicly available information about you if you run your own business compared to other individuals.”

The names, addresses and dates of birth of most UK directors are usually freely available online to members of the public, and despite recent efforts to limit this including reducing access to director's date of birth information, directors have continued to suffer disproportionately from identity theft.

While public data such as property ownership or company directorships provide fraudsters with a starting point, they often build on this to make the information ‘useable’ by collecting other online information such as social media posts, media profiles and company websites.

The report recommends that directors can make the fraudsters’ task more difficult by restricting the information about themselves and their lives that are publically available online.

Lady Judge encouraged company directors to do as much as possible to separate their personal and company personas. “Limit the personal information you share on social media and professional networking sites,” she said, “proactively check your credit file and your accounts. The quicker you spot that your details have been used fraudulently, the easier it will be to limit the damage caused.”

Mobile contracts

The study also discovered that identity fraudsters targeting company directors try to obtain credit files before committing identity fraud.

Once criminals have stolen the identities of directors, they often sign up for multiple mobile phone contracts and buy consumer goods online.

The thieves rely on business owners holding mobile phone contracts for their employees, allowing them to purchase multiple phone contracts without raising alarm.

Nearly half (47%) of recorded identity frauds involving the fraudulent procurement of credit files from company directors took place in London and the South East, with 28% coming from the capital.

Responding to the report a Companies House spokesperson said: “We are aware of concerns about the risk of identity theft. We are currently working with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to review the current provisions on the availability of personal information on the register.”

Protection strategies

Strategies listed by the report for company directors to protect themselves against such frauds include:

  1. Check your credit file: a quick and easy piece of advice for everyone - always keep a close eye for anything suspicious on your credit file. Fraudsters will often access a victim’s credit file first to see if it’s an identity worth using. By reviewing yours regularly, you can spot any suspicious activity before it is too late.
  2. Think about your digital footprint: make things more difficult for fraudsters by limiting what personal info is available in the public domain either on social media or professional networking sites. Also, listing a business address rather than home address on public director registers is advisable. The fewer pieces of the jigsaw a fraudster can get hold of, the harder it will be for them to impersonate.
  3. Don’t forget about paperwork and post: shred all your financial documents before you throw them away and remember to redirect your mail if you change address or move home.

 

Have you or your client fallen victim to scammers? What can be done to stop this trend increasing in the future?

Replies (4)

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By DaiH
16th Jun 2017 10:13

Members of the pubic?

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Replying to DaiH:
Tom Herbert
By Tom Herbert
16th Jun 2017 10:33

Oh my... Thanks for that DaiH. The anatomical error has been removed.

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By taxhelpukcom
17th Jun 2017 07:20

One thing you can also do to fight them is protective registration with cifas:

https://www.cifas.org.uk/pr

This adds a warning to your credit file so that extra id verification steps are taken when taking out new accounts.

It costs £20 every 2 years but is worth it for time saved dealing with the hassle from closing down scam accounts.

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Replying to taxhelpukcom:
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By C.Y.Nical
24th Jun 2017 21:08

I don't think the CIFAS personal registration option is designed for routine protection. It's meant for people who are exposed because they have lost documents or have otherwise become specially vulnerable. CIFAS say explicitly: 'Continuing to have registrations in place after the risk of identity fraud has diminished reduces that value of the Protective Registration Service, as more and more applications would be subject to the same checks, therefore reducing the instant identification of those at greatest risk. This is why we do not routinely renew a Protective Registration after the initial registration period........ Some individuals have told Cifas that they would like to use the Protective Registration Service as an 'insurance policy' against the threat of identity fraud. The service is not designed for this purpose and further information on how you can protect yourself from identity fraud can be found at www.identityfraud.org.uk'

If I've got it wrong please enlighten me, I'd happily pay £40 p.a. for a bit of extra protection for me and my wife.

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