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Article: Beware the ID thieves Emma Wall explains how to avoid becoming a victim of identity fraud
- Article from:
- The Sunday Telegraph London
- Article date:
- October 18, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2009 The Sunday Telegraph London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Identity theft has become a reality for thousands of people.
Incidents of people having their identities stolen are up by a third
on last year, while London is fast becoming the identity theft
capital of the world.
There have been 59,000 cases of ID fraud recorded by the fraud
prevention service Cifas so far this year, compared with 62,000 for
the whole of 2008.
In the past 18 months the Metropolitan Police Service's
Specialist & Economic Crime Unit (SCD6) has closed down 27 illegal
printing factories, seizing 30,000 false IDs.
These fake IDs range from construction work permits and drivers'
licences to National Insurance cards and credit cards. Det Chief
Insp Nick Downing from SCD6 said: ...