Young renters most likely victims of identity theft

Δημοσιεύθηκε: 1 Μαΐου 2015 - 16:41

Priced out of the property market and stuck in often substandard or expensive accommodation, Generation Rent now has a new addition to its litany of woes: identity fraud.

Young people in rented accommodation are almost three times more likely to be hit by identity fraud as others, according to new research.

Those living in shared flats or who were heavier users of online services were more likely to have their sensitive financial details purloined, research by credit scoring company Experian found.

Fraudsters were using the details to probe the safeguards around the bank account switching regime under which requests to move accounts must be carried out within seven days, it said.

Nick Mothershaw, Experian director of identity and fraud, said young renters were the "biggest target" for identity thieves. "Shared hallways and easily accessible properties mean that rental tenants' details are most at risk, compared to other demographics. Also they are prolific users of mobile and online services, meaning that fraudsters have even more avenues to steal people's details."

Young people renting accommodation accounted for 22 per cent of current account ID fraud, Experian said, in a study that looked at 2014 data.

The relative ease of obtaining details from young renters also put them at the forefront of fraudulent credit card and loan applications, with one in six cases accounted for by this group.

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Earlier findings from Experian found the proportion of current account fraud perpetrated through identity theft had risen by 20 percentage points to 47 per cent of current account fraud. Fraudsters typically use accounts opened in someone else's name to access multiple deals across a bank's arms, from loan financing to mortgages.

The second most targeted group after young renters was wealthy couples, who presented thieves with opportunities for higher-value scams based on card and loan fraud. Such couples were victims in 13 per cent of fraudulent credit card applications in 2014.

Mr Mothershaw said: "Wealthy couples also continue to find themselves as a target due to the large pay days on offer to identity thieves," adding that financial institutions had shown improvements in their strategies to defeat fraud.

"The latest analysis reveals the effective work being done by lenders to detect and prevent fraud, but it also highlights the need for people to think about how they protect their personal information both on and offline."

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