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Government loses personal data of millions - what you can do to protect yourself and your identity
Protecting your personal data
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The Child Benefit Agency has lost the personal details of every parent who receives child benefit, including names, addresses, dates of birth, national insurance numbers, child benefit numbers and bank accounts.
As a result, 25 million people are now vulnerable to identity fraud if the data on the two discs lost falls into the wrong hands.
They aren't the only ones. In a matter of weeks, data breaches have been reported by a number of other organizations.
No wonder recent research showed that many of us do not trust big institutions to keep our personal information safe.
The Canvasse Opinion survey found that 34 per cent of us do not trust insurance companies and 32 per cent believe that government cannot be relied on to safeguard the data that can be used to impersonate us, borrow money in our names - and possibly ruin our lives.
If you think you could be at risk, take these simple precautions as soon as possible.
1. Check your bank statements carefully
With your account data and basic personal information, criminals could try to get hold of your money. If you spot any unfamiliar transactions, tell your bank immediately and explain the circumstances.
2. Look at your credit report
The information in the Child Benefit Agency records is enough for a criminal to apply for loans, credit cards and even mortgages in your name - as well as other forms of credit such as mobile telephone and catalogue accounts.
Your credit report lists all your credit commitments and recent applications for credit, so you can instantly see if someone has been trying to use your ID and put a stop to problems before they can develop.
- Get a free report and see if someone's been tampering with your finances
3. Minimise the information you post on social networking sites
Organised gangs are now focusing on ID fraud as a profit centre and they know that many people give away useful snippets that could be passwords or key dates giving access to your bank and card accounts.
Edit out the names of pets, mother's maiden name, where you went to school and anything else you might use as a password or PIN.
4. Watch out for hoax calls, letters or e-mails
The next few weeks and months are prime time for hoaxers to try and get in touch with you purporting to be your bank or building society, or other financial organisation, asking you to 'verify you details'. Do not click on these links and phone your bank.
Taking advantage of your distress in the wake of a data breach, criminals may call, e-mail or write pretending to need further information in order to protect you. In fact, they hope to rip you off more thoroughly - so don't give away information to people you do not know.
Check with organisations that might have a genuine reason for contacting you before you part with your data.
5. Passwords for accounts
Ensure that your bank and credit card account passwords do not relate to the data that could be compromised. Many of us tend to use details such as children's names and memorable dates as passwords to protect our bank and credit card accounts.
Fraudsters are likely to make a good guess at these passwords which will give them access to your finances for further theft and much more. Make sure you update your passwords on a regular basis and use unique words that do not relate to data that could be compromised in a data breach.
Credit monitoring is such an effective method of protecting yourself that it is recommended by the Home Office and many responsible organisations automatically offer it to customers and clients who have been affected by a data breach.
To view your personal credit information that lenders base their credit decisions on, apply now for a free online credit report. Click here for a free 30-day trial and a free copy of your Experian credit report
Enter your details and start a free 30-day trial of CreditExpert's monitoring service. Privacy Policy
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