Two sets of independent research commissioned by Fellowes and the National Fraud Authority exclusively for National Identity Fraud Prevention Week (NIDFPW), which begins on Monday 12th October, 2009, show that one third of small and medium-sized businesses have been impacted by fraud – and that British consumers are facing a crisis in confidence, with only 3% feeling completely confident the organisations they deal with handle their personal data responsibly.

Identity Fraud: Identity Theft at Work

Independent research commissioned by Fellowes for this year’s campaign shows that:

• Only  64% of businesses have put in place a clear policy on how to handle documents with sensitive information –  32% of employees admit  to always throwing sensitive documents directly into the bin!
• 97% of employees believe that their company does not completely protects customers’ identities; 64% of employees believe that bins are a bigger risk to customer details than computer systems or document theft.
• Overall, 71% of UK employees think their companies should do more to ensure confidential documents are handled responsibly - and the UK is not alone.  66% of German, 70% of Belgian, 61% of Dutch and 85% of Irish employees agree that more should be done.

According to the NFA, when it comes to looking at the impact of fraud, 62% of businesses fear consequential financial loss, while 43% worry about the effect identity fraud could have on their reputation. 

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Government figures show that this fear of financial loss is a legitimate concern: identity fraud costs the UK economy over £1.2 billion annually – but a breach can have even more lasting consequences to a business’ reputation, which companies can ill afford in hyper-competitive recession conditions. 

Identity Fraud: Identity Theft at Home

Identity fraud is not an issue that only affects people at work. The latest figures from CIFAS, the UK’s Fraud Prevention Service, show that nearly 60,000 of us have fallen victim so far this year - a 36% increase when compared with the first nine months of 2008!

Research published by Lloyds TSB has found that three quarters of adults (76 per cent) are currently worried about identity theft and well over a third (39 per cent) feel more at risk now than they did six months ago, with the recession playing a major contributing factor.

The National Identity Fraud Prevention Week partners have published a 28-page guide for businesses to launch a dedicated online resource centre, outlining the risks and offering tips on how to keep corporate data safe, and advice on how to overcome a breach should one occur. 

The resource will be available free of charge from the campaign’s website, www.stop-idfraud.co.uk or by calling 00800 1810 1810.

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