NIDFPW: Lack of trust in business data handling

Less than one in ten British people have complete faith in how organisations handle their personal data, a report has shown.

Over eight in 10 British people believed their employer did not take identity fraud seriously enough, while 94 per cent believed they were at risk from identity fraud, according to a Fellowes study.

The research has been released in support of the sixth National Identity Fraud Prevention Week (NIDFPW), which kicked off today.

Sports presenter John Inverdale has been selected as NIDFPW's spokesperson for this year and will try to educate individuals and businesses on the importance of protecting themselves and customers.

Inverdale himself has been on the wrong end of identity theft and will use his experience to spread the word.

"I discovered from my postman that my mail had been illegally redirected to a house in North London and I was shocked to think that someone had had access to all my mail and credit card details for four weeks," he said.

"It became more worrying when I started to receive credit card statements in my name from organisations that I had never heard of. Although I resolved the situation in the end, it was extremely stressful."

Inverdale recommended regularly checking credit reports, being careful about what data people place on social networks and never handing out personal information.

"Businesses can also take simple steps to protect themselves such as creating an anti-fraud policy, as well as having a comprehensive IT security policy and securely destroying all sensitive documents," Inverdale added.

NIDFPW partners have also launched a guide on how to prevent identity fraud. It is free to download and can be accessed from the campaign's website.

Campaign partners include the Metropolitan Police, the National Fraud Authority, the Federation of Small Businesses and the Home Office.